Quick answers
- Is CVE-2026-116273 exploited in the wild?
- No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-2026-116273 being exploited in the wild.
- How severe is CVE-2026-116273?
- Informational severity, published 28 October 2026.
- Which products and versions are affected?
- CPAN MIME::Parser before 5.521.
- Is there a fix for CVE-2026-116273?
- Yes: fixed in 5.521. Until then: Upgrade to version 5.521 or later, or explicitly set max_parts and max_depth to reasonable limits when instantiating MIME::Parser objects if running an older version. Junglewise finds every place you run it, drafts the upgrade and applies it once you approve.
- How is CVE-2026-116273 attacked?
- It is attacked over the network, in a software library.
- Am I affected by CVE-2026-116273?
- Check whether you run CPAN MIME::Parser at an affected version. Junglewise does that check for you around the clock: connect your code, cloud and domains, and it matches new vulnerabilities like this one against what you actually run and tells you when one reaches you.
How to fix
- Fixed in: 5.521
Upgrade to version 5.521 or later, or explicitly set max_parts and max_depth to reasonable limits when instantiating MIME::Parser objects if running an older version.
Technical details
The vulnerability exists in MIME::Parser's default configuration, where the max_parts option was set to -1 (unlimited) by default. An attacker can craft a MIME message with an arbitrary number of parts, causing the parser to build an entity for every single part without restriction, exhausting memory and causing denial of service. Version 5.521 sets max_parts to 1000 and max_depth to 64 by default, though these can be explicitly set to -1 to restore unlimited behavior.
Affected products
- CPAN MIME::Parser before 5.521
Timeline
- 2026-10-28: disclosed
- 2026-10-27: patched