CVE-2026-54890
highpriority · track · 30EPSS 0.004 · 36 %ileDEEUUSEPSS · scored 2026-10-27
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.
cvss
Technical severity, 0–10. One row per scoring source.
base score 0–10 · higher = more severe · hover a vector to decode⚠ sources disagree · medium–high · 4.6–8.2
ssvc
A stakeholder decision — act, attend, or track — from exploitation and impact.
weaknesses
The CWE weakness classes this flaw belongs to.
affected products (18)
Products and version ranges known to be affected.
advisories (2)
Vendor and ecosystem advisories describing this.
- WID-SEC-W-2026-2533Erlang/OTP: Mehrere SchwachstellenDeutsch2026-07-27csaf · cert_bundDE
Ein entfernter, anonymer Angreifer kann mehrere Schwachstellen in Erlang/OTP ausnutzen, um einen Denial of Service Angriff durchzuführen, beliebigen Code auszuführen, Sicherheitsmaßnahmen zu umgehen sowie Daten zu manipulieren oder offenzulegen.
- EEF-CVE-2026-54890BEAM VM crash via integer underflow in binary_to_term BIT_BINARY_EXT decoding2026-07-27vendor · osvUS
## Summary 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. ## Workarounds Do not call binary\_to\_term/1,2 or enif\_binary\_to\_term() on data from untrusted sources. The OTP Secure Coding Guidelines (DSG-011) recommend avoiding these functions altogether on untrusted input and using an alternative serialization format (for example JSON or Protocol Buffers) instead.
also known as (3)
Other names and identifiers for this entity.
sources
Which sources assert this record, and when.
references (16)
External citations — patches, advisories, analysis.
- https://cna.erlef.org/cves/CVE-2026-54890.htmlcnnvd
- https://github.com/erlang/otp/commit/dc1bf9344c0ce62717cf60866590cea0242780fdcnnvd
- https://github.com/erlang/otp/releasesPatchcnnvd
- https://github.com/erlang/otp/security/advisories/GHSA-54pw-5645-jh86cnnvd
- https://osv.dev/vulnerability/EEF-CVE-2026-54890cnnvd
- https://www.erlang.org/doc/system/versions.html#order-of-versionscnnvd
- https://cna.erlef.org/cves/CVE-2026-54890.htmlenisa_euvd
- https://github.com/erlang/otp/commit/dc1bf9344c0ce62717cf60866590cea0242780fdenisa_euvd
Attackers weaponise vulnerabilities like this against internet-exposed services. See what is exposed on your perimeter with a free passive scan.
Free scan