EUVD-2026-22136Severity by source
AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
Timing side channel requires many samples over noisy network paths and depends on the app comparing secrets, so AC:H; it leaks the secret (C:H) with no integrity or availability impact.
Primary rating from NVD.
CVSS VectorNVD
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
Lifecycle Timeline
6DescriptionCVE.org
Crypt::SecretBuffer versions before 0.019 for Perl is suseceptible to timing attacks.
For example, if Crypt::SecretBuffer was used to store and compare plaintext passwords, then discrepencies in timing could be used to guess the secret password.
AnalysisAI
Secret-recovery via timing side channel in the Perl module Crypt::SecretBuffer before 0.019 lets remote attackers infer stored secrets by measuring response-time discrepancies during comparison operations. When an application uses SecretBuffer to hold and compare sensitive values such as plaintext passwords, the non-constant-time comparison leaks information that can be used to guess the secret byte-by-byte. There is no public exploit identified at time of analysis, EPSS is negligible (0.02%), and SSVC records exploitation as none, so this is a real but low-urgency defense-in-depth fix rather than an actively exploited threat.
Technical ContextAI
Crypt::SecretBuffer (CPAN distribution by NERDVANA, CPE cpe:2.3:a:nerdvana:crypt::secretbuffer) is a Perl utility whose purpose is to store secret material in memory and offer comparison primitives. The flaw is CWE-208 (Observable Timing Discrepancy): the comparison routine short-circuits or otherwise varies its execution time based on how many leading bytes of the candidate match the stored secret, instead of performing a constant-time comparison. An attacker who can submit candidate values and observe timing can iteratively converge on the correct secret. This is the classic reason security libraries provide constant-time compare functions; the fix in 0.019 addresses the comparison timing behavior.
RemediationAI
Vendor-released patch: upgrade Crypt::SecretBuffer to version 0.019 or later (e.g. via cpan/cpanm NERDVANA/Crypt-SecretBuffer-0.019), which is the primary and complete fix; confirm the change in the release changelog at https://metacpan.org/release/NERDVANA/Crypt-SecretBuffer-0.019/source/Changes. If you cannot upgrade immediately, the effective compensating control is to avoid using SecretBuffer's comparison method against attacker-supplied or remotely observable input - instead compare secrets using a vetted constant-time routine, and specifically stop using it to compare plaintext passwords (hash and use a constant-time verify instead), with the trade-off of code changes at each call site. Reducing the attacker's ability to gather timing samples (rate limiting, adding server-side latency normalization, restricting who can invoke the comparison path) lowers but does not eliminate risk. Additional context is in the oss-security disclosure at http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/04/13/12.
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Same weakness CWE-208 – Observable Timing Discrepancy
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External POC / Exploit Code
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