Heap pointer corruption via signed/unsigned mismatch in LARGE_TUPLE_EXT decoding in erts external term format decoder (Erlang OTP)
At a glance
- Source
- NVD
- EPSS
- EPSS 0.29 % · percentile 21 ()
- State
- PUBLISHED
- Published
- Updated
- Assigner
- EEF
- NVD status
- Analyzed
Description
Signed to Unsigned Conversion Error and Out-of-bounds Write vulnerability in Erlang OTP erts allows an attacker who can supply a crafted Erlang external term format (ETF) binary to binary_to_term/1 to corrupt the BEAM heap pointer and crash the virtual machine. When decoding a LARGE_TUPLE_EXT term, the validation pass decoded_size() in erts/emulator/beam/external.c reads the 32-bit arity field as unsigned (get_uint32()), while the decode pass dec_term() reads the same field as a signed 32-bit integer (get_int32()) into an int. An arity wire value of 0x80000000 passes validation as 2147483648 but decodes as -2147483648, so the subsequent hp += n moves the heap allocation pointer backward. Neither pass enforces the runtime tuple-arity limit MAX_ARITYVAL. The result is an out-of-bounds heap write; in practice the VM detects an impossible heap size and aborts, denying service. The required padding is large when uncompressed but the compressed-ETF envelope shrinks it to a small payload on the wire. This issue affects OTP from OTP 25.0 before OTPÂ 29.0.4, OTPÂ 28.5.0.4 and OTPÂ 27.3.4.15, corresponding to erts from 13.0 before 17.0.4, 16.4.0.4 and 15.2.7.11.
Weaknesses (CWE)
References
- https://github.com/erlang/otp/security/advisories/GHSA-446w-268v-9462
- https://cna.erlef.org/cves/CVE-2026-55737.html
- https://osv.dev/vulnerability/EEF-CVE-2026-55737
- https://www.erlang.org/doc/system/versions.html#order-of-versions
- https://github.com/erlang/otp/commit/c5210b42a9d3d96f3d25601942ce8122be0f3761
Scores
| Version | Score | Vector | Scored by |
|---|---|---|---|
| CVSS 4.0 | MEDIUM 5.1 | CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N | EEF |
| CVSS 4.0 | MEDIUM 5.1 | CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/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 · 6b3ad84c-e1a6-4bf7-a703-f496b71e49db (Secondary) |
| CVSS 3.1 | HIGH 7.5 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H | NVD · nvd@nist.gov (Primary) |
European references
- ENISA EUVD · EUVD-2026-49321
- GCVE · GCVE-0-2026-55737
Affected configurations (NVD CPE)
cpe:2.3:a:erlang:erlang\/otp:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*≥ 25.0 < 27.3.4.15cpe:2.3:a:erlang:erlang\/otp:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*≥ 28.0 < 28.5.0.4cpe:2.3:a:erlang:erlang\/otp:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*≥ 29.0 < 29.0.4cpe:2.3:a:erlang:erts:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*≥ 13.0 < 15.2.7.11cpe:2.3:a:erlang:erts:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*≥ 16.0 < 16.4.0.4cpe:2.3:a:erlang:erts:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*≥ 17.0 < 17.0.4
Affected products
| Product | Versions |
|---|---|
| Erlang · OTP | affected 13.0 < * |
| Erlang · OTP | affected 25.0 < * ; affected ebcbb97b4ec223464cac3d94375739a248ddef6e < c5210b42a9d3d96f3d25601942ce8122be0f3761 |
Sources
| Source | Licence |
|---|---|
| CVE List (CVEProject cvelistV5) | CVE Program Terms of Use |
| EPSS (FIRST.org) | FIRST — attribution requested |
| ENISA EUVD | ENISA — reproduction authorised, source acknowledged |
| NVD (NIST) via fkie-cad/nvd-json-data-feeds | Public domain — this product uses data from the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD |