Net::Whois::Raw versions before 2.99044 for Perl ship a pwhois command-line tool that queries WHOIS for the wrong domain for unicode domain names
Summary
| CVE | CVE-2026-19954 |
|---|---|
| State | PUBLISHED |
| Assigner | CPANSec |
| Source Priority | CVE Program / NVD first with legacy fallback |
| Published | 2026-10-05 07:16:30 UTC |
| Updated | 2026-10-06 18:16:53 UTC |
| Description | Net::Whois::Raw versions before 2.99044 for Perl ship a pwhois command-line tool that queries WHOIS for the wrong domain for unicode domain names. pwhois encodes each non-ASCII label directly using Net::IDN::Punycode and prepends xn--. Apart from lowercasing ASCII and Cyrillic letters, it skips the IDNA mapping and normalization steps, so a label with other uppercase letters, or not in NFC, encodes to a different A-label than its IDNA form. For example, a label of U+00C9 followed by "cole" encodes to "xn--cole-pka" rather than "xn--cole-9oa". The Net::Whois::Raw library modules are not affected. |
Risk And Classification
Primary CVSS: v3.1 5.4 MEDIUM from ADP
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N
EPSS: 0.001790000 probability, percentile 0.068040000 (date 2026-10-06)
Problem Types: CWE-176 | CWE-176 CWE-176 Improper Handling of Unicode Encoding
| Version | Source | Type | Score | Severity | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.1 | ADP | DECLARED | 5.4 | MEDIUM | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N |
| 3.1 | 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0 | Secondary | 5.4 | MEDIUM | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N |
CVSS v3.1 Breakdown
Attack Vector
NetworkAttack Complexity
LowPrivileges Required
NoneUser Interaction
RequiredScope
UnchangedConfidentiality
LowIntegrity
LowAvailability
NoneCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N
There are no known software configurations currently associated with this CVE in NVD or the CVE Program record.
References
| Reference | Source | Link | Tags |
|---|---|---|---|
| security.metacpan.org/patches/N/Net-Whois-Raw/2.99043/CVE-2026-19954-r1.patch | 9b29abf9-4ab0-4765-b253-1875cd9b441e | security.metacpan.org | |
| metacpan.org/release/PJCJ/Net-IDN-Encode-2.590-TRIAL/view/lib/Net/IDN/Puny... | 9b29abf9-4ab0-4765-b253-1875cd9b441e | metacpan.org | |
| metacpan.org/release/NALOBIN/Net-Whois-Raw-2.99044/changes | 9b29abf9-4ab0-4765-b253-1875cd9b441e | metacpan.org | |
| github.com/regru/Net-Whois-Raw/pull/35 | 9b29abf9-4ab0-4765-b253-1875cd9b441e | github.com | |
| www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/10/05/9 | af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108 | www.openwall.com | |
| github.com/regru/Net-Whois-Raw/issues/34 | 9b29abf9-4ab0-4765-b253-1875cd9b441e | github.com | |
| www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc5891 | 9b29abf9-4ab0-4765-b253-1875cd9b441e | www.rfc-editor.org | |
| CVE Program record | CVE.ORG | www.cve.org | canonical |
| NVD vulnerability detail | NVD | nvd.nist.gov | canonical, analysis |
No vendor comments have been submitted for this CVE.
Additional Advisory Data
Workarounds
CNA: Apply the patch. For deployments that cannot apply the patch, convert the domain name to its A-label form, for example with Net::IDN::Encode::domain_to_ascii, before passing it to pwhois. pwhois passes all-ASCII names through unchanged.
There are currently no legacy QID mappings associated with this CVE.