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TI-2026-40235 Aliases CVE-2026-55737

Heap pointer corruption via signed/unsigned mismatch in LARGE_TUPLE_EXT decoding in erts external term format decoder

Priority LOW 23CWE-195Published · Updated

Key facts

Attack vector
Local
Privileges required
None
User interaction
None
Attack complexity
Low
Attack requirements
None
Impact type
—
Confidentiality · integrity · availability
None · None · Low
Fix status
Fixed

Attack profile from CVSS 4.0 · CNA. Fix status from CNA.

Summary

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 OTP 29.0.4, OTP 28.5.0.4 and OTP 27.3.4.15, corresponding to erts from 13.0 before 17.0.4, 16.4.0.4 and 15.2.7.11.

Why it matters now

Exploitation None reported CISA SSVC · not in CISA KEV
EPSS 0.00288 21st percentileScored 2026-11-07
Fix Fixed No fixed version in the sources yet

SSVC decision points

CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3

Exploitation
None
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
ErlangOTP13.0 and later—No fix listedCNA
ErlangOTP25.0 and later—Patch availableCNA
  • OTP VendorErlang Affected 13.0 and later Fixed in — No fix listed CNA
  • OTP VendorErlang Affected 25.0 and later Fixed in — Patch available CNA

CPE configurations NVD · 2

CPEVersionsRoleVendor
cpe:2.3:a:erlang:erlang\/otp:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*25.0 to before 27.3.4.15; 28.0 to before 28.5.0.4; 29.0 to before 29.0.4VulnerableErlang
cpe:2.3:a:erlang:erts:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*13.0 to before 15.2.7.11; 16.0 to before 16.4.0.4; 17.0 to before 17.0.4VulnerableErlang
  • cpe:2.3:a:erlang:erlang\/otp:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 25.0 to before 27.3.4.15; 28.0 to before 28.5.0.4; 29.0 to before 29.0.4 Vulnerable ·Erlang
  • cpe:2.3:a:erlang:erts:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 13.0 to before 15.2.7.11; 16.0 to before 16.4.0.4; 17.0 to before 17.0.4 Vulnerable ·Erlang

Remediation

No fixed version listed by the sources yet.

Vendor assessments

Red Hat

Red Hat rating: Important. Red Hat's page for this CVE →

Not affected: 1 product
  • Red Hat Hardened Images

Timeline

  1. 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-55737

References

  • TI-2025-23504 Erlang/OTP SSH Vulnerable to Pre-Authentication RCE KEVCVSS 3.1CRITICAL 10.0
  • TI-2023-26623 The SSH transport protocol with certain OpenSSH extensions, found in OpenSSH before 9.6… CVSS 3.1MEDIUM 5.9
  • TI-2017-14604 The Erlang otp TLS server answers with different TLS alerts to different error types in… CVSS 3.0MEDIUM 5.9
  • TI-2026-36669 Stack buffer overflow in SCTP error cause parsing in inet_drv allows remote VM crash CVSS 4.0HIGH 8.8
  • TI-2022-17230 In Erlang/OTP before 23.3.4.15, 24.x before 24.3.4.2, and 25.x before 25.0.2, there is a… CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
  • TI-2016-08327 An issue was discovered in Erlang/OTP 18.x. CVSS 3.0CRITICAL 9.8
See all 40 →

Sources