9.1Critical

CVE-2026-13051

Form::Processor::Field::HtmlArea versions from 0.06 through 1.162360 for Perl allow attacker selected method dispatch and resource exhaustion via an HTML::Tidy diagnostic that validate passes to add_error as a Locale::Maketext template. validate runs HTML::Tidy over the submitted markup and passes each resulting message to add_error as its first argument, which add_error hands to the language handle as the Locale::Maketext message key. The default handle's lexicon sets `_AUTO`, so a message that is not a lexicon entry is compiled as a bracket notation template instead of being looked up. Tidy diagnostics quote the offending attribute name or value, so a bracket group in the submitted markup reaches the template position, where the first token of the group names a method called on the language handle and the remaining tokens are its arguments. A group such as `[0]` makes the compile croak, and neither the field nor the handle catches it, so the exception leaves validate. `[sprintf,%2000000000d,7]` reaches CORE::sprintf with an attacker chosen field width. One submission of crafted markup to an HtmlArea field throws an unhandled exception out of form validation or allocates an arbitrary amount of memory, and an application whose language handle subclass defines side effecting public methods makes those callable with attacker chosen arguments. The other field types pass fixed templates with the submitted value in an argument slot, where it stays inert, and are unaffected.

What this means for your business

  • An attacker can use it remotely, over a network, without a login, and without anyone at your company clicking anything.
  • FIRST's prediction model gives it a 0.5% chance of attack attempts being seen in the next 30 days, ranking above 37% of all known flaws.

What to do

  1. 1Ask your IT team or provider whether any of your systems use the affected product.
  2. 2If you do, follow the vendor's guidance. No patch reference has been published yet.

Not sure if your company is exposed?

Fastnexa’s certified penetration testers can check whether attackers could use this flaw, or others like it, against your websites, apps and network. The full test is free for our first 10 founding clients until 31 December 2026.

Scoring

CVSS
9.1 (v3.1)
Vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N
Weakness
CWE-470
Assigned by
9b29abf9-4ab0-4765-b253-1875cd9b441e

Dates

Published
2026-08-13
Last modified
2026-08-26
Sources
NVD

References