Unbounded exponent in decimal enables unauthenticated DoS
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Local
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Attack requirements
- None
- Impact type
- Denial of service
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- None · None · High
- Fix status
- Fixed
Attack profile from CVSS 4.0 · CNA. Fix status from CNA and GitHub. Impact type from CWE-400.
Summary
Uncontrolled Resource Consumption vulnerability in ericmj decimal allows unauthenticated remote Denial of Service. The decimal library does not bound the exponent on parsed input. Storing a decimal with a very large exponent (e.g. Decimal.new("1e1000000000")) is accepted without error. Subsequent calls to arithmetic functions (Decimal.add/2, Decimal.sub/2, Decimal.div/2M), Decimal.to_string/2M with :normalM or :xsdM format, Decimal.to_integer/1M, Decimal.round/3M, or Decimal.compare/3M with a threshold allocate memory proportional to the exponent value, which can exhaust available memory and crash the BEAM VM. Any application that accepts user-supplied decimal input and subsequently performs arithmetic, rounding, conversion to integer, or string formatting on it is exposed. A single malicious request is sufficient to cause an out-of-memory crash. This issue affects decimal: from 0.1.0 before 3.0.0.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- Poc
- Automatable
- Yes
- Technical impact
- Partial
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ericmj | decimal | 0.1.0 to before 3.0.0 | 3.0.0 | Patch available | CNA |
| — | decimal (Hex) | 0.1.0 to before 3.0.0 | 3.0.0 | Patch available | GHSA-rhv4-8758-jx7v |
- decimal Vendorericmj Affected 0.1.0 to before 3.0.0 Fixed in 3.0.0 Patch available CNA
- decimal (Hex) Vendor— Affected 0.1.0 to before 3.0.0 Fixed in 3.0.0 Patch available GHSA-rhv4-8758-jx7v
Remediation
- Fix · CNA decimal (ericmj) Fixed in 3.0.0
- Fix · GHSA-rhv4-8758-jx7v decimal (Hex) Fixed in 3.0.0 Advisory →
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-32686
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-rhv4-8758-jx7v
References
Advisory 2
More ericmj vulnerabilities
- TI-2026-70500 Unbounded allocation in decimal Decimal.round allows DoS CVSS 4.0MEDIUM 6.9
Sources
- CVE-2026-32686 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-32686 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-rhv4-8758-jx7v · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
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