Security Advisories (1)
CVE-2025-40909 (2025-05-30)

Perl threads have a working directory race condition where file operations may target unintended paths. If a directory handle is open at thread creation, the process-wide current working directory is temporarily changed in order to clone that handle for the new thread, which is visible from any third (or more) thread already running. This may lead to unintended operations such as loading code or accessing files from unexpected locations, which a local attacker may be able to exploit. The bug was introduced in commit 11a11ecf4bea72b17d250cfb43c897be1341861e and released in Perl version 5.13.6

NAME

MakeMaker::Test::Utils - Utility routines for testing MakeMaker

SYNOPSIS

use MakeMaker::Test::Utils;

my $perl     = which_perl;
perl_lib;

my $makefile      = makefile_name;
my $makefile_back = makefile_backup;

my $make          = make;
my $make_run      = make_run;
make_macro($make, $targ, %macros);

my $mtime         = calibrate_mtime;

my $out           = run($cmd);

my $have_compiler = have_compiler();

my $text          = slurp($filename);

DESCRIPTION

A consolidation of little utility functions used throughout the MakeMaker test suite.

Functions

The following are exported by default.

which_perl
my $perl = which_perl;

Returns a path to perl which is safe to use in a command line, no matter where you chdir to.

perl_lib
perl_lib;

Sets up environment variables so perl can find its libraries.

makefile_name
my $makefile = makefile_name;

MakeMaker doesn't always generate 'Makefile'. It returns what it should generate.

makefile_backup
my $makefile_old = makefile_backup;

Returns the name MakeMaker will use for a backup of the current Makefile.

make
my $make = make;

Returns a good guess at the make to run.

make_run
my $make_run = make_run;

Returns the make to run as with make() plus any necessary switches.

make_macro
my $make_cmd = make_macro($make, $target, %macros);

Returns the command necessary to run $make on the given $target using the given %macros.

my $make_test_verbose = make_macro(make_run(), 'test',
                                   TEST_VERBOSE => 1);

This is important because VMS's make utilities have a completely different calling convention than Unix or Windows.

%macros is actually a list of tuples, so the order will be preserved.

calibrate_mtime
my $mtime = calibrate_mtime;

When building on NFS, file modification times can often lose touch with reality. This returns the mtime of a file which has just been touched.

run
my $out = run($command);
my @out = run($command);

Runs the given $command as an external program returning at least STDOUT as $out. If possible it will return STDOUT and STDERR combined as you would expect to see on a screen.

run_ok
my @out = run_ok($cmd);

Like run() but it tests that the result exited normally.

The output from run() will be used as a diagnostic if it fails.

have_compiler
$have_compiler = have_compiler;

Returns true if there is a compiler available for XS builds.

slurp
$contents = slurp($filename);

Returns the $contents of $filename.

Will die if $filename cannot be opened.

hash2files
hash2files('dirname', { 'filename' => 'some content' });

Goes through given hash-ref, treating each key as a /-separated filename under the specified directory, and writing the value into it. Will create any necessary directories.

Will die if errors occur.

in_dir
$retval = in_dir(\&coderef);
$retval = in_dir(\&coderef, $specified_dir);
$retval = in_dir { somecode(); };
$retval = in_dir { somecode(); } $specified_dir;

Does a chdir to either a directory. If none is specified, one is created with File::Temp and then automatically deleted after. It ends by chdiring back to where it started.

If the given code throws an exception, it will be re-thrown after the re-chdir.

Returns the return value of the given code.

AUTHOR

Michael G Schwern <schwern@pobox.com>