Catalyst Catalyst::Plugin::Authentication up to 0.10028 Password Verifier timing discrepancy

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability identified as problematic has been detected in Catalyst Catalyst::Plugin::Authentication up to 0.10028. Affected is an unknown function of the component Password Verifier. The manipulation leads to timing discrepancy. This vulnerability is uniquely identified as CVE-2026-74846. The attack is possible to be carried out remotely. No exploit exists. You should upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Catalyst Catalyst::Plugin::Authentication up to 0.10028 and classified as problematic. This issue affects some unknown functionality of the component Password Verifier. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a timing discrepancy vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-208. Two separate operations in a product require different amounts of time to complete, in a way that is observable to an actor and reveals security-relevant information about the state of the product, such as whether a particular operation was successful or not. Impacted is confidentiality. The summary by CVE is:

Catalyst::Plugin::Authentication versions before 0.10029 for Perl allow timing attacks on stored passwords via eq comparisons in the legacy password verifier. CVE-2026-5091 was fixed in the realm-based verifier. The legacy verifier, used by the deprecated login method, compares clear-text passwords, crypt hashes and base64 digests with eq, so the comparison time depends on how many leading bytes match. A remote attacker can use response-time differences to guess the stored password or hash.

It is possible to read the advisory at metacpan.org. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2026-74846 since 08/17/2026. The exploitation is known to be difficult. The attack may be initiated remotely. No form of authentication is needed for a successful exploitation. The technical details are unknown and an exploit is not publicly available. The attack technique deployed by this issue is T1592 according to MITRE ATT&CK.

Upgrading to version 0.10029 eliminates this vulnerability.

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Productinfo

Vendor

• Catalyst

Name

• Catalyst::Plugin::Authentication

Version

• 0.10028

CPE 2.3info

• 🔒

CPE 2.2info

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