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TI-2026-39667 Aliases CVE-2026-54894

Atom-table exhaustion denial of service in Guardian via unbounded atom creation from binary keys

Priority MEDIUM 64CWE-770Published · Updated

Key facts

Attack vector
Local
Privileges required
None
User interaction
None
Attack complexity
Low
Attack requirements
Present
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. Impact type from CWE-770.

Summary

Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling in ueberauth guardian allows denial of service via unbounded atom creation from attacker-influenced binary input. Guardian.Plug.Keys derives connection and session namespace keys by passing arbitrary binaries to String.to_atom/1. base_key/1 in lib/guardian/plug/keys.ex converts any binary into the atom :"guardian_<input>", and the derived helpers claims_key/1, resource_key/1, and token_key/1 create a second atom on top of that. key_from_other/1 likewise converts a regex-captured binary through String.to_atom/1. The public specs advertise String.t() as a valid argument, so passing a string is documented usage, and higher-level entry points such as Guardian.Plug.current_token(conn, key: key) thread the caller-supplied key straight into these functions. String.to_atom/1 creates a brand-new atom for every previously unseen binary, atoms are never garbage collected, and the BEAM atom table is fixed at roughly 1,048,576 entries by default. An application that routes attacker-influenced data (a tenant identifier, header, or other request input) into a Guardian key therefore mints one permanent atom per distinct value. A modest stream of varied, unauthenticated input permanently consumes the atom table and crashes the BEAM node, taking down every application running on it. This issue affects guardian: from 0.1.0 before 2.4.1.

Why it matters now

Exploitation Proof of concept CISA SSVC · not in CISA KEV
EPSS 0.00476 41st percentileScored 2026-11-07
Public exploit Yes 1 exploit referenceTagged by NVD
Fix Fixed guardian (ueberauth): 2.4.1

SSVC decision points

CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3

Exploitation
Poc
Automatable
No
Technical impact
Partial

The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.

Affected products

VendorProductAffected versionsFixed inStatusSource
ueberauthguardian0.1.0 to before 2.4.12.4.1Patch availableCNA
  • guardian Vendorueberauth Affected 0.1.0 to before 2.4.1 Fixed in 2.4.1 Patch available CNA

CPE configurations NVD · 1

CPEVersionsRoleVendor
cpe:2.3:a:ueberauth:guardian:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*before 2.4.1Vulnerableueberauth
  • cpe:2.3:a:ueberauth:guardian:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions before 2.4.1 Vulnerable ·ueberauth

Remediation

  • Fix · CNA guardian (ueberauth) Fixed in 2.4.1

Fixed in the same release

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

  • Release ·

    ueberauth guardian 2.4.1

    4 records Highest priority Priority HIGH 1 HIGH, 3 MEDIUM

    Other records, highest priority first

    • TI-2026-40233 Guardian.revoke/3 acts on unverified token claims, allowing forged-token session revocationPriority HIGH 69
    • TI-2026-40232 guardian atom exhaustion in Guardian.Permissions.encode_permissions!/1Priority MEDIUM 64
    • TI-2026-40231 Atom-table exhaustion denial of service in Guardian permissions AtomEncoding via unbounded atom creationPriority MEDIUM 64

Timeline

  1. 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-54894

References

  • TI-2026-40233 Guardian.revoke/3 acts on unverified token claims, allowing forged-token session revocation CVSS 4.0HIGH 8.2
  • TI-2026-40232 guardian atom exhaustion in Guardian.Permissions.encode_permissions!/1 CVSS 4.0MEDIUM 6.9
  • TI-2026-40231 Atom-table exhaustion denial of service in Guardian permissions AtomEncoding via unbounded atom creation CVSS 4.0MEDIUM 6.9

Sources

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