CVE-2026-75538
Description
A flaw was found in Erlang/OTP. A remote, unauthenticated attacker can exploit a signed length overflow vulnerability in the inet TCP driver when operating in {packet,4} mode. By sending a specially crafted packet, the attacker can cause an incorrect packet length calculation, leading to a buffer overflow of the receive buffer into the virtual machine (VM) allocator area. This can corrupt memory and most likely result in a denial of service (DoS) due to the BEAM VM crashing.
Statement
This vulnerability is rated as having an Important severity because an unauthenticated remote attacker can trigger an abrupt termination of the BEAM virtual machine, resulting in a denial of service for Erlang-based services. Exploitation requires an Erlang application to expose a network listening socket configured with four-byte packet framing mode. Although heap memory corruption occurs, arbitrary code execution is considered practically unfeasible, limiting the security impact to service availability.
Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Score Details
Info alert:Important note
CVSS scores for open source components depend on vendor-specific factors (e.g. version or build chain). Therefore, Red Hat's score and impact rating can be different from NVD and other vendors. Red Hat remains the authoritative CVE Naming Authority (CNA) source for its products and services (see Red Hat classifications).
CVSS v3 Score Breakdown
| Red Hat | NVD | cve.org | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base Score | 7.5 | N/A | N/A |
| Attack Vector | Network | N/A | N/A |
| Attack Complexity | Low | N/A | N/A |
| Privileges Required | None | N/A | N/A |
| User Interaction | None | N/A | N/A |
| Scope | Unchanged | N/A | N/A |
| Confidentiality | None | N/A | N/A |
| Integrity Impact | None | N/A | N/A |
| Availability Impact | High | N/A | N/A |
Vector
Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Understanding the Weakness (CWE)
Integrity,Confidentiality,Availability
Technical Impact: Read Memory; Modify Memory; Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands
Buffer overflows often can be used to execute arbitrary code, which is usually outside the scope of a program's implicit security policy. This can often be used to subvert any other security service.
Availability
Technical Impact: Modify Memory; DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart; DoS: Resource Consumption (CPU)
Buffer overflows generally lead to crashes. Other attacks leading to lack of availability are possible, including putting the program into an infinite loop.
Frequently Asked Questions
Not sure what something means? Check out our Security Glossary.
Want to get errata notifications? Sign up here.
