Impact Analysis

This vulnerability affects certain versions of Perl that include a vulnerable version of the Compress::Raw::Zlib module. Because Compress::Raw::Zlib contains a vendored version of zlib with known vulnerabilities, it may expose systems using these Perl versions to security risks associated with those underlying zlib vulnerabilities.

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Mitigation Strategies

To mitigate this vulnerability, update Perl to a version that includes the fixed Compress::Raw::Zlib module. Specifically, upgrade to Perl versions after 5.40.4-RC1, 5.42.2-RC1, or 5.43.9, where the bundled Compress::Raw::Zlib has been updated to version 2.221 which addresses the vulnerability.

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Executive Summary

This vulnerability affects certain versions of Perl that include a vulnerable version of the Compress::Raw::Zlib module. Compress::Raw::Zlib is a core module in Perl that uses a vendored version of the zlib compression library. The vulnerability is related to this bundled zlib version, which contains several security issues, including CVE-2026-27171. The affected Perl versions are from 5.9.4 before 5.40.4-RC1, from 5.41.0 before 5.42.2-RC1, and from 5.43.0 before 5.43.9.

The vulnerability was addressed by updating the bundled Compress::Raw::Zlib module to version 2.221 in a specific Perl blead commit.

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Detection Guidance

This vulnerability affects specific versions of Perl that include a vulnerable Compress::Raw::Zlib module. To detect if your system is affected, you need to check the installed Perl version and the version of the Compress::Raw::Zlib module.

You can check the Perl version by running the command:

• perl -v

If the Perl version falls within the vulnerable ranges (from 5.9.4 before 5.40.4-RC1, from 5.41.0 before 5.42.2-RC1, or from 5.43.0 before 5.43.9), your system may be vulnerable.

To check the version of the Compress::Raw::Zlib module, you can run a Perl one-liner:

• perl -MCompress::Raw::Zlib -e 'print $Compress::Raw::Zlib::VERSION, "\n";'

If the module version is less than 2.222, it is vulnerable.

Mitigation involves updating Perl to a stable release 5.40.4 or 5.42.2 or later, or manually installing Compress::Raw::Zlib version 2.222 from CPAN.

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Compliance Impact

The provided information does not include any details about how CVE-2026-4176 affects compliance with common standards and regulations such as GDPR or HIPAA.

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