CVE-2026-13051
CVE-2026-13051 is a CWE-470 vulnerability. O3 Security confirms whether CVE-2026-13051 is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
Form::Processor::Field::HtmlArea versions from 0.06 through 1.162360 for Perl allow attacker selected method dispatch and resource exhaustion via an HTML::Tidy diagnostic that validate…
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- CISA assesses this as automatable — exploitation doesn’t require manual, per-target effort, which raises the odds of mass scanning and opportunistic attacks.
- A successful exploit gives an attacker total control of the affected component, not partial access.
- CISA’s own triage has not observed active exploitation or public proof-of-concept code for this CVE as of its last assessment.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2026-13051.
Description
Form::Processor::Field::HtmlArea versions from 0.06 through 1.162360 for Perl allow attacker selected method dispatch and resource exhaustion via an HTML::Tidy diagnostic that validate passes to add_error as a Locale::Maketext template.
validate runs HTML::Tidy over the submitted markup and passes each resulting message to add_error as its first argument, which add_error hands to the language handle as the Locale::Maketext message key. The default handle's lexicon sets _AUTO, so a message that is not a lexicon entry is compiled as a bracket notation template instead of being looked up. Tidy diagnostics quote the offending attribute name or value, so a bracket group in the submitted markup reaches the template position, where the first token of the group names a method called on the language handle and the remaining tokens are its arguments. A group such as [0] makes the compile croak, and neither the field nor the handle catches it, so the exception leaves validate. [sprintf,%2000000000d,7] reaches CORE::sprintf with an attacker chosen field width.
One submission of crafted markup to an HtmlArea field throws an unhandled exception out of form validation or allocates an arbitrary amount of memory, and an application whose language handle subclass defines side effecting public methods makes those callable with attacker chosen arguments. The other field types pass fixed templates with the submitted value in an argument slot, where it stays inert, and are unaffected.
Detection & mitigation playbook
VulnerabilityDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for the affected component. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.
Remediation status
No patched version of the affected component has shipped for CVE-2026-13051 yet. Where your build allows, override or pin the dependency away from the vulnerable range, and apply any maintainer-recommended mitigation.
Mitigate without a patch
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 pinpoints whether CVE-2026-13051 is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.
Tailored to CVE-2026-13051. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2026-13051 in your dependencies?
O3 detects CVE-2026-13051 across dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.