---
id: "CVE-2026-115865"
kind: "vulnerability"
aliases: ["CVE-2026-115865"]
title: "Starlet for Perl: oversized Content-Length request kills a worker by exhausting memory"
severity: "medium"
cvss: null
epss: null
exploited: false
status: "open"
category: "package"
products: []
ecosystems: []
tags: ["package", "perl", "psgi", "self-hosted", "starlet"]
not_affected_if: ["no-internet-exposure", "non-starlet-server"]
published_at: "2026-10-30T13:18:30+00:00"
first_seen_at: "2026-10-30T13:30:27+00:00"
updated_at: "2026-10-30T13:32:36+00:00"
sources: [{"source": "nvd", "url": "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-115865", "first_seen_at": "2026-10-30T13:30:27+00:00"}]
---

# Starlet for Perl: oversized Content-Length request kills a worker by exhausting memory

Starlet, a Perl web server, reads a request body by asking for the full declared Content-Length at once, so a huge declared length makes Perl allocate that memory before any data arrives. An attacker sends a small request with a large Content-Length and repeatedly crashes the worker process.

_Summary, check and fix written by a model from the sources; labelled as such._

## How to check

- Check the installed Starlet version with `perl -MStarlet -e 'print $Starlet::VERSION'` or `cpanm --info Starlet`
- Look in cpanfile, cpanfile.snapshot or Makefile.PL for a Starlet entry

## Fix

- Starlet versions before `0.33` are affected; move to `0.33` or later

## Timeline

- 2026-10-30T13:30:27+00:00 nvd https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-115865

## From the sources

Starlet versions before 0.33 for Perl allow a request declaring a large Content-Length to kill a worker by exhausting memory.

The request body is read in a loop that asks sysread for all of the remaining declared length at once. Perl grows the read buffer to that size before any data arrives, so a length larger than available memory makes the worker exit with an uncatchable out of memory error before the application is called.

A remote attacker can force a worker restart with each request of a few bytes.

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_Free to read at a human pace. An API with keys and an MCP server are in preparation; early access: hello@infrastack.ai_