CVE-2025-40909
MEDIUMperl 5.13.6-5.41.13 - Untrusted Search Path via Thread Creation Race Condition
Title source: llmDescription
Perl threads have a working directory race condition where file operations may target unintended paths. If a directory handle is open at thread creation, the process-wide current working directory is temporarily changed in order to clone that handle for the new thread, which is visible from any third (or more) thread already running. This may lead to unintended operations such as loading code or accessing files from unexpected locations, which a local attacker may be able to exploit. The bug was introduced in commit 11a11ecf4bea72b17d250cfb43c897be1341861e and released in Perl version 5.13.6
References (18)
Core 18
Core References
Mailing List mailing-list
exploit
https://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2025/05/22/2
Issue Tracking issue-tracking
https://github.com/Perl/perl5/issues/23010
Issue Tracking related
https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=1098226
Issue Tracking related
https://github.com/Perl/perl5/issues/10387
Various Sources related
https://perldoc.perl.org/5.14.0/perl5136delta#Directory-handles-not-copied-to-threads
Mailing List
http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2025/Sep/53
Mailing List
http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2025/Sep/54
Mailing List
http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2025/Sep/55
Scores
CVSS v3
5.9
EPSS
0.0037
EPSS Percentile
28.3%
Attack Vector
LOCAL
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L
CISA SSVC
Vulnrichment
Exploitation
poc
Automatable
no
Technical Impact
partial
Details
CWE
CWE-426
CWE-689
Status
published
Products (1)
perl/perl
5.13.6 - 5.41.13
Published
May 30, 2025
Tracked Since
Feb 18, 2026