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CVE-2026-54890· NVD / CVE Program· CNA EEF

BEAM VM crash via integer underflow in binary_to_term BIT_BINARY_EXT decoding

Integer Underflow (Wrap or Wraparound) vulnerability in erlang otp erlang/otp (erts modules), erlang otp erts (erts modules) allows Forced Integer Overflow, Excessive Allocation. This vulnerability is associated with program files erts/emulator/beam/external.c, emulator/beam/external.c. The BIT_BINARY_EXT tag (77) handler in the External Term Format (ETF) decoder accepts an encoding with both length and trailing-bits fields set to zero. The subsequent computation of the bitstring size underflows an unsigned integer, producing a value of roughly 2^64 that is then passed as a memory allocation size. The allocator aborts the entire node with a message such as "Cannot allocate 2305843009213693951 bytes of memory (of type binary)". The crash is a VM-level abort, not an Erlang-level exception. It cannot be intercepted by supervision trees, by try/catch, or by passing the [safe] option to binary_to_term/2 (which only restricts atom creation and does not perform structural validation of binary encodings). Any application that decodes ETF from untrusted sources via binary_to_term/1,2 or enif_binary_to_term() is exposed. The Erlang distribution protocol also decodes incoming terms through the same code path, but distribution is expected to run on trusted networks per the OTP Secure Coding Guidelines (DSG-011). This issue affects OTP from OTP 27.0 before OTP 29.0.4, OTP 28.5.0.4 and OTP 27.3.4.15, corresponding to erts from 15.0 before 17.0.4, 16.4.0.4 and 15.2.7.11.

HighCVSS 8.2 · v4.0—No exploit Fix available
Published
Jul 27, 2026
Updated
Aug 10, 2026
EPSS
0.7% · 50th percentile
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Report tools

JSON

Action score

32

Monitor

Low priority for now.

CVSS
32 / 40 · 8.2 / 10
CISA KEV
0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS
0 / 30 · 0.7%

CISA SSVC decision

Exploitation
none
Automatable
no
Technical impact
partial

Vulnrichment: CISA's decision-tree inputs.

CNA vs NVD score

NVD
—
CNA · EEF
8.2
NVD has not scored this yet; the score shown is the CNA’s.

CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

The score given by the assigning authority versus NVD’s independent score. A gap means the severity is contested.

Affected systems

VendorProduct
erlangerlang\/otp
erlangerts

Affected versions

NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.

  • erlang erlang/otp27.0 and later · before 27.3.4.15
  • erlang erlang/otp28.0 and later · before 28.5.0.4
  • erlang erlang/otp29.0 and later · before 29.0.4
  • erlang erts15.0 and later · before 15.2.7.11
  • erlang erts16.0 and later · before 16.4.0.4
  • erlang erts17.0 and later · before 17.0.4

Versions reported by the vendor

Affected version ranges reported by the assigning authority (EEF). Independent of NVD's CPE analysis and usually ahead of it.

  • Erlang OTP

    • 15.0 and lateraffected · otpfixed in 15.2.7.11, 16.4.0.4, 17.0.4
    • 27.0 and lateraffected · otpfixed in 27.3.4.15, 28.5.0.4, 29.0.4
    • 24ef4cbaeda9b9c26682cba75f2f15b0c58722aa and later · before dc1bf9344c0ce62717cf60866590cea0242780fdaffected · git

Package-level exposure

OSV and GitHub Advisory data: ecosystem, package and range. SBOM matching uses this table.

EcosystemPackageAffected rangeFix
Debian:12erlangall versions—
Debian:13erlangbefore 1:27.3.4.1+dfsg-1+deb13u31:27.3.4.1+dfsg-1+deb13u3
Debian:14erlangbefore 1:29.0.4+dfsg-11:29.0.4+dfsg-1
openSUSE:Tumbleweederlangbefore 28.5.0.4-1.128.5.0.4-1.1
openSUSE:Tumbleweederlang27before 27.1.3-3.127.1.3-3.1
Red Hat:hummingbird:1erlang27before 0:27.3.4.15-0.1.hum10:27.3.4.15-0.1.hum1

Same product

erlang: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

  • CVE-2025-32433Erlang/OTP SSH Vulnerable to Pre-Authentication RCEKEV
    100Now
  • CVE-2022-37026In Erlang/OTP before 23.3.4.15, 24.x before 24.3.4.2, and 25.x before 25.0.2, there is a Client Authentication Bypass in certain client-cert
    39Monitor
  • CVE-2016-10253An issue was discovered in Erlang/OTP 18.x.
    39Monitor
  • CVE-2026-55953TLS 1.2 and DTLS client accepts unoffered anonymous cipher suite, bypassing server authentication
    36Monitor
  • CVE-2026-49759Stack buffer overflow in SCTP error cause parsing in inet_drv allows remote VM crash
    35Monitor
  • CVE-2026-59251Denial of service via exponential certificate policy tree growth in path validation
    34Monitor

Remediation

Which version to upgrade to

Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.

Product / packageFixed versionSource
Erlang OTP15.2.7.11Vendor (CNA)
Erlang OTP16.4.0.4Vendor (CNA)
Erlang OTP17.0.4Vendor (CNA)
Erlang OTP27.3.4.15Vendor (CNA)
Erlang OTP28.5.0.4Vendor (CNA)
Erlang OTP29.0.4Vendor (CNA)
Erlang OTPdc1bf9344c0ce62717cf60866590cea0242780fdVendor (CNA)
Debian:erlang1:27.3.4.1+dfsg-1+deb13u3 · Debian:13Package registry (OSV)
openSUSE:erlang28.5.0.4-1.1 · openSUSE:TumbleweedPackage registry (OSV)
openSUSE:erlang2727.1.3-3.1 · openSUSE:TumbleweedPackage registry (OSV)
Red Hat:erlang270:27.3.4.15-0.1.hum1 · Red Hat:hummingbird:1Package registry (OSV)

Exploit status

No known public exploit

No public exploit has been observed yet. That doesn't mean you're safe, only that the bar is a little higher.

Research context

For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.

Timeline

From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.

No dated events beyond publication.

EPSS, last 120 days

FIRST EPSS daily score; only changes of 0.01 or more are recorded (step chart).

Patch and commit links

Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.

Credits

All researchers

Finders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.

Variant candidates

Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.

No nightly-computed relations.

Chain candidates

An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.

—

Bug bounty scope

No known public program.

Source: bounty-targets-data (public HackerOne, Bugcrowd, Intigriti, YesWeHack listings).

Technical details

Attack conditions

  • Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it.
  • No account or password is required.
  • No user action is required.
  • No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.

If successful

Confidentiality
Integrity
Availability
Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
None
User interaction
None
Scope
X

Weakness class (CWE)

CWE-191 · Integer Underflow (Wrap or Wraparound)

CVSS vector

CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X

nvd-secondary

Attack context

MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.

MITRE has no CAPEC/ATT&CK mapping for this CWE.

Noroxi analysis

No Noroxi analysis for this record yet

We don't hand-write analysis for all 385,000+ vulnerabilities; that wouldn't be honest. For notable, high-impact vulnerabilities our team writes the mechanism, detection and remediation steps.

We use this product, ask for help

Change log

  1. Fix✗ → ✓

For records you follow, these changes also arrive as notifications. →

References

Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.

All records