Description
An attacker that connects to an open Erlang TCP port that uses the inet driver with {packet,4} mode can use a signed overflow in an incorrect packet length calculation to overflow the receive buffer into the VM allocator area and beyond up to about 2 GB.
This would easily trash the allocated block's allocator metadata footer, and the next block, if any, and most likely cause the BEAM VM to crash. Utilizing this with precision enough to achieve Remote Code Execution would be extremely unfeasible.
This issue affects OTP from OTP 17.0 before OTP 27.3.4.17, OTP 28.5.0.6, and OTP 29.0.6, corresponding to erts from 6.0 before 15.2.7.13, 16.4.0.6, and 17.0.6. Whether OTP before OTP 17.0, corresponding to erts before 6.0, is affected is unknown.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Erlang | OTP | 17.0, 6.0 | — |
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 | 1:29.0.6+dfsg-1 | — |
| Debian 13 | erlang | 1:27.3.4.1+dfsg-1+deb13u4 | — |
| Debian 12 | erlang | No fix yet | — |
Ubuntu
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu 26.04 LTS | erlang | 1:27.3.4.6+dfsg-1ubuntu0.1 | USN-8827-1 |
| Ubuntu 24.04 LTS | erlang | 1:25.3.2.8+dfsg-1ubuntu4.7 | USN-8827-1 |
| Ubuntu 22.04 LTS | erlang | 1:24.2.1+dfsg-1ubuntu0.7 | USN-8827-1 |
Show 4 more (older releases, extended support, other products)Fewer releases
| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTS | erlang | 1:22.2.7+dfsg-1ubuntu0.5+esm2 | USN-8827-1 |
| Ubuntu Pro 18.04 LTS | erlang | 1:20.2.2+dfsg-1ubuntu2+esm3 | USN-8827-1 |
| Ubuntu Pro 16.04 LTS | erlang | 1:18.3-dfsg-1ubuntu3.1+esm3 | USN-8827-1 |
| Ubuntu Pro 14.04 LTS | erlang | 1:16.b.3-dfsg-1ubuntu2.2+esm2 | USN-8827-1 |
Red Hat
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Hardened Images 1 | erlang27 +38 | 27.3.4.17-1.hum1 | RHSA-2026:63160 |
Azure Linux
| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Azure Linux 3 | erlang | 26.2.5.21-6 | — |
Advisories 3
- WID-SEC-2026-3146 Erlang/OTP: Mehrere Schwachstellen BSI CERT-Bund (WID) · Nov 2, 2026
- RHSA-2026:63160 Red Hat Security Advisory: Red Hat Hardened Images RPMs bug fix and enhancement update Red Hat Security Advisories (RHSA) · Oct 20, 2026
- USN-8827-1 erlang vulnerabilities Ubuntu Security Notices (USN) · Sep 28, 2026