CVE-2026-57076: YAML::Syck versions before 1.47 for Perl allow a heap use-after-free via an anchor name reused as an anchors-table key in syck_hdlr_add

YAML::Syck versions before 1.47 for Perl allow a heap use-after-free via an anchor name reused as an anchors-table key in syck_hdlr_add_anchor.

YAML::Syck versions before 1.47 for Perl allow a heap use-after-free via an anchor name reused as an anchors-table key in syck_hdlr_add_anchor. In the bundled libsyck an anchor name allocated by syck_strndup is stored both as node->anchor, freed when the node is freed, and as the key in the parser's anchors table. Freeing the node frees the shared key, and a later anchor redefinition makes st_delete compare against the freed key, so st_strcmp reads freed heap memory. Anchors are a standard YAML feature and need no special flags, so this is reached on the default Load path. Any caller that runs Load or LoadFile on an untrusted document that redefines an anchor reaches the read of freed memory.

Description from the National Vulnerability Database, published by 9b29abf9-4ab0-4765-b253-1875cd9b441e

What it means for a small business

If your business uses YAML::Syck, install the vendor's update. If you're not sure whether you use it, ask whoever manages your computers.

How likely is an attack? The Exploit Prediction Scoring System, run by FIRST (the global association of security response teams), puts the odds of this one being exploited in the next 30 days at 0.17%, higher than 6% of CVEs. That’s low, but low isn’t zero, and the odds jump the day someone publishes an exploit. Scored October 29, 2026, updated daily.

Check your own setup

Website check: reads what your site runs from the outside (WordPress version, plugins it can see, old server software) and matches it against this database.
Server check: what your web server says about itself, and whether that version has known flaws.

Sources

Part of the Huttenlocher Technologies vulnerability database, refreshed twice a day from CISA and the NVD. The title, category and plain-language guidance are ours; check the linked record before acting on a detail. This is general guidance, not a review of your systems.

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