CVE-2026-75870
Received Received - Intake

Session Cookie Forgery in Punk Perl

Vulnerability report for CVE-2026-75870, including description, CVSS score, EPSS score, affected products, exploitability, helpful resources, and attack-flow context.

Publication date: 2026-08-22

Last updated on: 2026-08-22

Assigner: CPANSec

Description

Punk versions before 0.18 for Perl allow session cookie forgery via an empty default HMAC key when a session is declared without a secret. The session keyword freezes its options onto the application as given: it does not require a secret, warn, or refuse to start when one is absent. The cookie read and the write-back both default that key to the empty string, so a declaration with no secret option, or with an undefined or empty one, signs and verifies with a zero-length HMAC-SHA256 key. An attacker who knows the cookie format can then mint one offline carrying any contents the session holds, such as a user identifier or a role. Nothing marks the misconfiguration at runtime: cookies are well formed and sessions round-trip as expected.

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Meta Information

Published
2026-08-22
Last Modified
2026-08-22
Generated
2026-08-22
AI Q&A
2026-08-22
EPSS Evaluated
N/A
NVD
EUVD

Affected Vendors & Products

Showing 1 associated CPE
Vendor Product Version / Range
lnation punk to 0.18 (exc)

Helpful Resources

Exploitability

CWE
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KEV
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CWE ID Description
CWE-1394 The product uses a default cryptographic key for potentially critical functionality.

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Executive Summary

This vulnerability involves session cookie forgery in Punk versions before 0.18 for Perl. When a session is created without a secret key, the system defaults to an empty HMAC key. This allows attackers to forge session cookies offline if they know the cookie format, potentially manipulating session data like user roles or identifiers.

Detection Guidance

Check Punk application configurations for sessions declared without a secret option. Inspect cookies for empty or default HMAC keys. Look for session cookies signed with zero-length HMAC-SHA256 keys.

Impact Analysis

An attacker could exploit this to impersonate users, gain unauthorized access to accounts, or escalate privileges. Since sessions function normally, the attack may go unnoticed until misuse occurs. Systems relying on Punk for session management are at risk if not updated.

Compliance Impact

This vulnerability could lead to unauthorized data access or breaches, violating GDPR's integrity and confidentiality requirements or HIPAA's safeguards for protected health information. Non-compliance risks fines, legal action, and reputational damage due to failed security controls.

Mitigation Strategies

Update Punk to version 0.18 or later. Ensure all session declarations include a non-empty secret option. Validate session cookies use proper HMAC-SHA256 keys with sufficient length.

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