Monitor vulnerabilities like this one.
Sign up free to get alerted when software you use is affected.
GRID::Machine Perl versions 0.128 and earlier allow malicious code to run on your computer
CVE-2026-4851
Summary
If you use GRID::Machine Perl versions 0.128 and earlier, a malicious user could gain control of your computer by exploiting a security weakness in the way GRID::Machine handles data from remote computers. This could happen if you trust the remote computer or if an attacker has compromised the remote computer. Update to version 0.128 or later to fix this issue.
Original title
GRID::Machine versions through 0.127 for Perl allows arbitrary code execution via unsafe deserialization.
GRID::Machine provides Remote Procedure Calls (RPC) over SSH for Perl. The client connects...
Original description
GRID::Machine versions through 0.127 for Perl allows arbitrary code execution via unsafe deserialization.
GRID::Machine provides Remote Procedure Calls (RPC) over SSH for Perl. The client connects to remote hosts to execute code on them. A compromised or malicious remote host can execute arbitrary code back on the client through unsafe deserialization in the RPC protocol.
read_operation() in lib/GRID/Machine/Message.pm deserialises values from the remote side using eval()
$arg .= '$VAR1';
my $val = eval "no strict; $arg"; # line 40-41
$arg is raw bytes from the protocol pipe. A compromised remote host can embed arbitrary perl in the Dumper-formatted response:
$VAR1 = do { system("..."); };
This executes on the client silently on every RPC call, as the return values remain correct.
This functionality is by design but the trust requirement for the remote host is not documented in the distribution.
GRID::Machine provides Remote Procedure Calls (RPC) over SSH for Perl. The client connects to remote hosts to execute code on them. A compromised or malicious remote host can execute arbitrary code back on the client through unsafe deserialization in the RPC protocol.
read_operation() in lib/GRID/Machine/Message.pm deserialises values from the remote side using eval()
$arg .= '$VAR1';
my $val = eval "no strict; $arg"; # line 40-41
$arg is raw bytes from the protocol pipe. A compromised remote host can embed arbitrary perl in the Dumper-formatted response:
$VAR1 = do { system("..."); };
This executes on the client silently on every RPC call, as the return values remain correct.
This functionality is by design but the trust requirement for the remote host is not documented in the distribution.
Vulnerability type
CWE-95
CWE-502
Deserialization of Untrusted Data
Published: 29 Mar 2026 · Updated: 29 Mar 2026 · First seen: 29 Mar 2026