TI-2026-36119 Aliases CVE-2026-48854 GHSA-q8gf-9rvj-gmgj

Unbounded request body accumulation causes memory exhaustion in elixir-grpc/grpc

HIGH 77CWE-770Published 2026-06-15 · Updated 2026-09-24

Key facts

Attack vector: Network
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-770.

Summary

Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling vulnerability in elixir-grpc grpc allows unauthenticated attackers to exhaust the BEAM's memory and crash the server by streaming a large or slow-trickle unary request body. 'Elixir.GRPC.Server.Adapters.Cowboy.Handler':read_full_body/3 (lib/grpc/server/adapters/cowboy/handler.ex) accumulates every received chunk into a single growing binary with no size cap. Additionally, when the client omits the grpc-timeout header, the per-chunk read timeout resolves to :infinity, allowing a slow-trickle client to keep the connection alive indefinitely while memory grows. A single connection is sufficient to exhaust server memory and crash the node. This issue affects grpc: from 0.3.0-alpha.2 before 1.0.0.

Why it matters now

Exploitation Proof of concept CISA SSVC · not in CISA KEV

EPSS 0.00451 39th percentileScored 2026-11-07

Fix Fixed grpc (elixir-grpc): 1.0.0grpc (Hex): 1.0.0

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
elixir-grpc	grpc	0.3.0-alpha.2 to before 1.0.0	1.0.0	Patch available	CNA
—	grpc (Hex)	0.3.1 to before 1.0.0	1.0.0	Patch available	GHSA-q8gf-9rvj-gmgj

grpc Vendorelixir-grpc Affected 0.3.0-alpha.2 to before 1.0.0 Fixed in 1.0.0 Patch available CNA
grpc (Hex) Vendor— Affected 0.3.1 to before 1.0.0 Fixed in 1.0.0 Patch available GHSA-q8gf-9rvj-gmgj

CPE names CNA · 1

CPE	Versions	Role	Vendor
cpe:2.3:a:elixir-grpc:grpc::::::::	—	—	—

cpe:2.3:a:elixir-grpc:grpc:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions — — ·—

Remediation

Fix · CNA grpc (elixir-grpc) Fixed in 1.0.0
Fix · GHSA-q8gf-9rvj-gmgj grpc (Hex) Fixed in 1.0.0 Advisory →

Fixed in the same release

Records fixed by the same vendor advisory or release, as the CNA lists them.

Release · 2026-06-15
elixir-grpc grpc 1.0.0
4 records Highest priority Priority HIGH 4 HIGH
Other records, highest priority first
- TI-2026-36118 Remote code execution and denial of service via unsafe Erlang term deserialization in elixir-grpc/grpcPriority HIGH 81
- TI-2026-38512 grpc gzip decompression bomb in GRPC.Compressor.Gzip.decompress/1Priority HIGH 77
- TI-2026-35955 Authorization bypass via path binding override in elixir-grpc/grpc HTTP transcodingPriority HIGH 68
Show all 4 records →

Timeline

2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-48854
2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-q8gf-9rvj-gmgj

References

Patch 1

Fix commit 49e18c3 in elixir-grpc/grpc

Advisory 2

Other 6

TI-2026-36118 Remote code execution and denial of service via unsafe Erlang term deserialization in elixir-grpc/grpc CVSS 4.0CRITICAL 9.2
TI-2026-38512 grpc gzip decompression bomb in GRPC.Compressor.Gzip.decompress/1 CVSS 4.0HIGH 8.7
TI-2026-35955 Authorization bypass via path binding override in elixir-grpc/grpc HTTP transcoding CVSS 4.0HIGH 7.6
TI-2026-86129 Unbounded streaming request buffering in grpc_server exhausts memory CVSS 4.0HIGH 8.2

Sources

This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Sources and licences