CVE-2026-7040
Heap Overflow in Text::Minify::XS Perl Module via Malformed UTF
Publication date: 2026-04-27
Last updated on: 2026-05-01
Assigner: CPANSec
Description
Description
CVSS Scores
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Meta Information
Affected Vendors & Products
Helpful Resources
Exploitability
| CWE ID | Description |
|---|---|
| CWE-176 | The product does not properly handle when an input contains Unicode encoding. |
| CWE-122 | A heap overflow condition is a buffer overflow, where the buffer that can be overwritten is allocated in the heap portion of memory, generally meaning that the buffer was allocated using a routine such as malloc(). |
Attack-Flow Graph
AI Powered Q&A
Can you explain this vulnerability to me?
CVE-2026-7040 is a heap overflow vulnerability found in the Perl package Text::Minify::XS, specifically in versions from v0.3.0 up to and including v0.7.7.
The vulnerability occurs when the minify functions process certain malformed UTF-8 characters. These functions mishandle these malformed characters, which leads to heap corruption due to a heap-based buffer overflow.
The minify_utf8 function, which is an alias for minify, is also affected by this issue. The problem was fixed in version v0.7.8.
How can this vulnerability impact me? :
This vulnerability can lead to heap corruption when processing malformed UTF-8 characters, which may cause the affected application to crash or behave unpredictably.
In some cases, heap overflows can be exploited by attackers to execute arbitrary code or escalate privileges, potentially compromising the security of the system running the vulnerable software.
Since the vulnerability affects a Perl package used for minifying text, any application relying on this package for processing UTF-8 data could be at risk.
What immediate steps should I take to mitigate this vulnerability?
To mitigate the heap overflow vulnerability in Text::Minify::XS, you should upgrade the Perl package Text::Minify::XS to version v0.7.8 or later, where the issue has been patched.
How does this vulnerability affect compliance with common standards and regulations (like GDPR, HIPAA)?:
The provided information does not specify any direct impact of the CVE-2026-7040 vulnerability on compliance with common standards and regulations such as GDPR or HIPAA.
How can this vulnerability be detected on my network or system? Can you suggest some commands?
This vulnerability affects the Perl module Text::Minify::XS versions from v0.3.0 up to v0.7.7 when processing malformed UTF-8 characters, leading to heap overflow.
Detection involves identifying if your system is running a vulnerable version of the Text::Minify::XS module. You can check the installed version of the module using Perl commands.
- Run the following Perl command to check the installed version of Text::Minify::XS:
- perl -MText::Minify::XS -e 'print $Text::Minify::XS::VERSION, "\n";'
If the version is between v0.3.0 and v0.7.7 inclusive, your system is vulnerable.
Since the vulnerability is triggered by processing malformed UTF-8 characters, monitoring or logging attempts to process suspicious or malformed UTF-8 input through the minify or minify_utf8 functions may help detect exploitation attempts, but no specific network detection commands are provided.