Subject: [PATCH] Limit PL/Perl scalar copies to work_mem

From: Andrey Rachitskiy <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 06 Jul 2026 22:13:53 +0000

When a PL/Perl function returns a very large text value, sv2cstr() copies
the entire Perl string into backend memory with no size check.  A user
with permission to create untrusted PL/Perl functions can return strings
far larger than work_mem and risk getting the backend killed by the OOM
killer.

Reject Perl strings larger than work_mem * 1024 bytes, capped by
MaxAllocSize, before copying them through sv2cstr().  This follows the
same work_mem-based limit pattern used elsewhere in the backend.

Add a plperl regression test that attempts to return a 16MB string with
the default 4MB work_mem setting.

Author: Andrey Rachitskiy <[email-masked]>
---
 src/pl/plperl/expected/plperl.out |  8 +++++++
 src/pl/plperl/plperl.h            | 34 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 src/pl/plperl/sql/plperl.sql      |  7 ++++++
 3 files changed, 49 insertions(+)
diff --git a/src/pl/plperl/expected/plperl.out b/src/pl/plperl/expected/plperl.out
index e3d7c88..50c788b 100644
--- a/src/pl/plperl/expected/plperl.out
+++ b/src/pl/plperl/expected/plperl.out
@@ -792,3 +792,11 @@ SELECT self_modify(42);
          126
 (1 row)
 
+-- oversized text results are rejected at the PL boundary
+CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION perl_oversized_text() RETURNS text AS $$
+	return 'x' x (16 * 1024 * 1024);
+$$ LANGUAGE plperl;
+SELECT perl_oversized_text();
+ERROR:  Perl value exceeds maximum allowed size (4194304 bytes)
+HINT:  Increase work_mem or reduce the result size.
+CONTEXT:  PL/Perl function "perl_oversized_text"
diff --git a/src/pl/plperl/plperl.h b/src/pl/plperl/plperl.h
index 4c03f9e..1ccce6d 100644
--- a/src/pl/plperl/plperl.h
+++ b/src/pl/plperl/plperl.h
@@ -17,6 +17,8 @@
 
 /* defines free() by way of system headers, so must be included before perl.h */
 #include "mb/pg_wchar.h"
+#include "miscadmin.h"
+#include "utils/memutils.h"
 
 /*
  * Pull in Perl headers via a wrapper header, to control the scope of
@@ -40,6 +42,36 @@ char	   *plperl_sv_to_literal(SV *, char *);
 void		plperl_util_elog(int level, SV *msg);

+/*
+ * Maximum byte size for a Perl scalar copied through sv2cstr().
+ *
+ * This follows the same work_mem * 1024 pattern used elsewhere in the
+ * backend (e.g. reorderbuffer.c, nodeHash.c) and is capped by MaxAllocSize.
+ */
+static inline Size
+plperl_max_scalar_bytes(void)
+{
+	Size		limit = (Size) work_mem * (Size) 1024;
+
+	return Min(limit, MaxAllocSize - 1);
+}
+
+/*
+ * Reject Perl strings that are too large to copy into backend memory.
+ */
+static inline void
+plperl_check_sv_length(STRLEN len)
+{
+	Size		max_len = plperl_max_scalar_bytes();
+
+	if ((Size) len > max_len)
+		erereport(ERROR,
+				(errcode(ERRCODE_PROGRAM_LIMIT_EXCEEDED),
+				 errmsg("Perl value exceeds maximum allowed size (%zu bytes)",
+						max_len),
+			 errhint("Increase work_mem or reduce the result size.")));
+}
+
 /* helper functions */
 
 /*
@@ -127,6 +159,8 @@ sv2cstr(SV *sv)
 	else
 		val = SvPVutf8(sv, len);
 
+	plperl_check_sv_length(len);
+
 	/*
 	 * Now convert to database encoding.  We use perl's length in the event we
 	 * had an embedded null byte to ensure we error out properly.
diff --git a/src/pl/plperl/sql/plperl.sql b/src/pl/plperl/sql/plperl.sql
index bb0b8ce..0470a2b 100644
--- a/src/pl/plperl/sql/plperl.sql
+++ b/src/pl/plperl/sql/plperl.sql
@@ -521,3 +521,10 @@ $$ LANGUAGE plperl;
 
 SELECT self_modify(42);
 SELECT self_modify(42);
+
+-- oversized text results are rejected at the PL boundary
+CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION perl_oversized_text() RETURNS text AS $$
+	return 'x' x (16 * 1024 * 1024);
+$$ LANGUAGE plperl;
+
+SELECT perl_oversized_text();

--MP_/sDTAhto+gkG/PMs8Alw6m8e--