CVE-2026-54890
Full vulnerability record from the local CVENow database.
Description
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.
Severity
HIGH
CVSS score
8.2
(v4.0)
Vulnerability status
Analyzed
Source identifier
6b3ad84c-e1a6-4bf7-a703-f496b71e49db
Published
2026-07-27 16:17:41.437000
Last modified
2026-10-24 13:10:00.147000
View original CVE JSON
{
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"sourceIdentifier": "6b3ad84c-e1a6-4bf7-a703-f496b71e49db",
"published": "2026-07-27T16:17:41.437",
"lastModified": "2026-10-24T13:10:00.147",
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{
"lang": "en",
"value": "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.\n\nThe 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)\".\n\nThe 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).\n\nAny 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).\n\nThis 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."
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"value": "Vulnerabilidad de desbordamiento negativo de entero (wrap o wraparound) en erlang otp erlang/otp (módulos erts), erlang otp erts (módulos erts) permite el desbordamiento de entero forzado, asignación excesiva. Esta vulnerabilidad está asociada con los archivos de programa erts/emulator/beam/external.c, emulator/beam/external.c.\n\nEl gestor de la etiqueta BIT_BINARY_EXT (77) en el decodificador de Formato de Término Externo (ETF) acepta una codificación con los campos de longitud y bits finales (trailing-bits) establecidos a cero. El cálculo subsiguiente del tamaño de la cadena de bits (bitstring) causa un desbordamiento negativo en un entero sin signo, produciendo un valor de aproximadamente 2^64 que luego se pasa como tamaño de asignación de memoria. El asignador aborta el nodo completo con un mensaje como ’Cannot allocate 2305843009213693951 bytes of memory (of type binary)’.\n\nEl fallo es una anulación a nivel de VM, no una excepción a nivel de Erlang. No puede ser interceptado por árboles de supervisión, por try/catch, o pasando la opción [safe] a binary_to_term/2 (que solo restringe la creación de átomos y no realiza la validación estructural de las codificaciones binarias).\n\nCualquier aplicación que decodifique ETF de fuentes no confiables a través de binary_to_term/1,2 o enif_binary_to_term() está expuesta. El protocolo de distribución de Erlang también decodifica los términos entrantes a través de la misma ruta de código, pero se espera que la distribución se ejecute en redes confiables según las Directrices de Codificación Segura de OTP (DSG-011).\n\nEste problema afecta a OTP desde OTP 27.0 antes de OTP 29.0.4, OTP 28.5.0.4 y OTP 27.3.4.15, correspondiendo a erts desde 15.0 antes de 17.0.4, 16.4.0.4 y 15.2.7.11."
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