CVE-2026-75870
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
- Published
- Updated
- Reserved
- Assigned by
- 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.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| CISA-ADPADP (enrichment) | 3.1 | Critical9.1 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N |
| NVDNVD · Deferred | 3.1 | Critical9.1 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 0.50% · top 57% of all CVEs (6 Nov 2026)
- CISA SSVC
- Exploitation: none · Automatable: yes · Technical impact: total
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: Critical 9.1.
Weakness
Affected products
Punk
- affected < 0.18
What to do
Solution: Upgrade to Punk 0.18 or later.
Workaround: For deployments that cannot upgrade to 0.18, declare the session keyword with a non-empty secret. The secret keyword fails closed, so sourcing the key through it turns a missing configuration path or an unset environment variable into a startup error.
References (4)
- https://metacpan.org/release/LNATION/Punk-0.17/source/include/punk/punk_session.h (opens in a new tab)technical-description
- https://metacpan.org/release/LNATION/Punk-0.17/view/lib/Punk.pm (opens in a new tab)technical-description
- https://metacpan.org/release/LNATION/Punk-0.18/source/Changes (opens in a new tab)release-notes
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/08/22/5 (opens in a new tab)
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisories (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://trackcve.app/cve/CVE-2026-75870)Record last updated .