Description
Improper Certificate Validation vulnerability in hexpm hex allows an attacker who can intercept HTTPS connections, and holds a certificate for a Hex host issued by a CA in Hex's bundled CA store, to impersonate that host to users who set cacerts_path to a CA store that leaves that CA out.
cacerts_path (HEX_CACERTS_PATH) is documented as the path to the CA certificate store, used instead of the CA bundle that ships with Hex. Hex.HTTP.SSL.ssl_opts/1 passes the configured store as the cacerts option, but builds the partial_chain callback from the bundled store whether cacerts_path is set or not. Hex.HTTP.SSL.partial_chain/2 accepts a server chain when any certificate in it has the same public key as a bundled CA certificate, so a chain that leads to a bundled CA passes verification although the configured store doesn't contain that CA. Hostname verification still applies.
This issue affects hex: from 0.20.2 before 2.5.2.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|---|
| hexpm | hex | 0.20.2 – < 2.5.2 | 2.5.2 |
Fixed in Linux distributions
Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.
Debian
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debian 14 | erlang-hex | 2.5.3-2 | — |
| Debian 13 | erlang-hex | No fix yet | — |
Ubuntu
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu 26.10 | erlang-hex | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 26.04 LTS | erlang-hex | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 24.04 LTS | erlang-hex | No fix yet | — |
References
- GitHub Advisory related vendor-advisory
- EEF CNA record for CVE-2026-103503 related
- OSV record EEF-CVE-2026-103503 related
- Introducing commit c9b26a4 in hexpm/hex related
- Fix commit 5f5a213 in hexpm/hex patch
- Fix commit 6232a64 in hexpm/hex patch