Read the docs
TI-2026-48475 Aliases CVE-2026-68956

SSH daemon allocates unbounded idle session channels, bypassing max_channels

Priority LOW 31CWE-770Published · Updated

Key facts

Attack vector
Network
Privileges required
Low
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. Impact type from CWE-770.

Summary

Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling vulnerability in Erlang/OTP ssh allows an authenticated remote attacker to exhaust node memory by repeatedly opening session channels that are never assigned a handler. The "session" clause of ssh_connection:handle_msg/4 checks only minimal_remote_max_packet_size before calling setup_session/5, which unconditionally builds a #channel{} record and stores it in the ETS channel cache. The max_channels daemon option is consulted only by ssh_channel_sup:max_num_channels_not_exceeded/2, which counts supervisor children, so a channel that never gets a shell, exec, or subsystem handler is invisible to the limit and setting the option to a finite value does not mitigate the attack. RFC 4254 section 5.1 permits many session channels per connection, and each record costs only a few hundred bytes, so a single authenticated connection can accumulate channels until the node runs out of memory and the emulator terminates, affecting every application on it. No file contents, credentials, or write access are obtainable. This issue affects OTP from OTP 18.1.2 before OTP 27.3.4.18, OTP 28.5.0.7, and OTP 29.1.1, corresponding to ssh from 4.1.1 before 5.2.11.13, 5.5.2.6, and 6.0.6. Whether OTP before OTP 18.1.2, corresponding to ssh before 4.1.1, is affected is unknown.

Why it matters now

Exploitation None reported CISA SSVC · not in CISA KEV
EPSS 0.00378 31st 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
ErlangOTP18.1.2 and later—No fix listedCNA
ErlangOTP4.1.1 and later—No fix listedCNA
  • OTP VendorErlang Affected 18.1.2 and later Fixed in — No fix listed CNA
  • OTP VendorErlang Affected 4.1.1 and later Fixed in — No fix listed CNA

CPE names CNA · 1

CPEVersionsRoleVendor
cpe:2.3:a:erlang:erlang\/otp:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*——Erlang
  • cpe:2.3:a:erlang:erlang\/otp:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions — — ·Erlang

Remediation

No fixed version listed by the sources yet.

Timeline

  1. 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-68956

References

  • TI-2025-23504 Erlang/OTP SSH Vulnerable to Pre-Authentication RCE KEVCVSS 3.1CRITICAL 10.0
  • TI-2026-48954 httpd parks a request worker indefinitely on a malformed chunk size sent after the headers CVSS 4.0HIGH 8.7
  • TI-2023-26623 The SSH transport protocol with certain OpenSSH extensions, found in OpenSSH before 9.6… CVSS 3.1MEDIUM 5.9
  • TI-2026-71037 Path traversal in rebar3 via unvalidated dependency app names CVSS 4.0HIGH 7.5
  • TI-2024-36042 ssl fails to validate incorrect extened key usage CVSS 3.1MEDIUM 5.5
  • TI-2020-10791 Rebar3 versions 3.0.0-beta.3 to 3.13.2 are vulnerable to OS command injection via URL… CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
See all 80 →

Sources

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