Vulnerability-Lookup

CVE-2026-59251 (GCVE-0-2026-59251)

Vulnerability from cvelistv5 – Published: 2026-07-27 15:30 – Updated: 2026-07-28 09:54

Title

Denial of service via exponential certificate policy tree growth in path validation

Summary

Allocation of resources without limits in Erlang/OTP public_key certificate path validation allows a remote unauthenticated attacker to cause denial of service by sending a crafted X.509 certificate chain during the TLS handshake. During RFC 5280 policy processing in public_key:pkix_path_validation/3, the certificate policy tree maintained by pubkey_policy_tree grows without an upper bound. When a certificate chain contains M policies per certificate and K certificates, the tree grows on the order of M^K nodes because pubkey_policy_tree:add_leaves/2 and pubkey_policy_tree:add_leaf_siblings/2 extend the tree per policy per certificate. A modest chain with many policies per certificate is enough to pin BEAM schedulers and exhaust the node's memory, taking down the entire VM. The attacker only needs to be able to present a certificate chain to the victim, which is the normal precondition for a TLS handshake, so exploitation succeeds against any incoming or outgoing TLS connection that validates the peer's chain (the default for SSL/TLS clients and mutual-TLS servers). This is the same vulnerability class as OpenSSL's X509_verify_cert policy tree DoS. This vulnerability is associated with program files lib/public_key/src/pubkey_policy_tree.erl and program routines pubkey_policy_tree:add_leaves/2 and pubkey_policy_tree:add_leaf_siblings/2. This issue affects OTP from OTP 26.2 before OTP 29.0.4, OTP 28.5.0.4 and OTP 27.3.4.15, corresponding to public_key from 1.15 before 1.21.4, 1.20.3.4 and 1.17.1.5.

Severity

8.7 (High)


                        
                          CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:L

SSVC

Exploitation: none Automatable: yes Technical Impact: partial

CISA Coordinator · CISA-ADP (v2.0.3)

Decision recorded 2026-07-27 18:31 UTC

CWE

CWE-770 - Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling

Assigner

EEF CNA under the mitre root

CNA scorecard A 97/100 over 341 records in the last 180 days details

References

6 references

URL	Tags
https://github.com/erlang/otp/security/advisories…	vendor-advisoryrelated
https://cna.erlef.org/cves/CVE-2026-59251.html	related
https://osv.dev/vulnerability/EEF-CVE-2026-59251	related
https://www.erlang.org/doc/system/versions.html#o…	x_version-scheme
https://github.com/erlang/otp/commit/f8580fc11709…	patch
https://github.com/erlang/otp/commit/f04c6bba38de…	patch

Impacted products

2 products

Vendor	Product	Version	CPE status
Erlang	OTP	Affected: 1.15 , < * (otp) cpe:2.3:a:erlang:erlang\/otp::::::::
Erlang	OTP	Affected: 26.2 , < * (otp) Affected: 9d1dda7bad5a64b58c10a1554751689e94131a73 , < * (git) cpe:2.3:a:erlang:erlang\/otp::::::::

Credits

Lukas Backström Jakub Witczak Michał Wąsowski

Show details on NVD website

JSON

To clipboard

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            "value": "Asignaci\u00f3n de recursos sin l\u00edmites en la validaci\u00f3n de ruta de certificado public_key de Erlang/OTP permite a un atacante remoto no autenticado causar denegaci\u00f3n de servicio enviando una cadena de certificados X.509 manipulada durante el handshake TLS.\n\nDurante el procesamiento de pol\u00edticas RFC 5280 en public_key:pkix_path_validation/3, el \u00e1rbol de pol\u00edticas de certificado mantenido por pubkey_policy_tree crece sin un l\u00edmite superior. Cuando una cadena de certificados contiene M pol\u00edticas por certificado y K certificados, el \u00e1rbol crece en el orden de M^K nodos porque pubkey_policy_tree:add_leaves/2 y pubkey_policy_tree:add_leaf_siblings/2 extienden el \u00e1rbol por pol\u00edtica por certificado. Una cadena modesta con muchas pol\u00edticas por certificado es suficiente para fijar los planificadores BEAM y agotar la memoria del nodo, derribando toda la VM. El atacante solo necesita poder presentar una cadena de certificados a la v\u00edctima, lo cual es la condici\u00f3n previa normal para un handshake TLS, por lo que la explotaci\u00f3n tiene \u00e9xito contra cualquier conexi\u00f3n TLS entrante o saliente que valida la cadena del par (el valor predeterminado para clientes SSL/TLS y servidores mutual-TLS).\n\nEsta es la misma clase de vulnerabilidad que el DoS del \u00e1rbol de pol\u00edticas X509_verify_cert de OpenSSL.\n\nEsta vulnerabilidad est\u00e1 asociada con los archivos de programa lib/public_key/src/pubkey_policy_tree.erl y las rutinas de programa pubkey_policy_tree:add_leaves/2 y pubkey_policy_tree:add_leaf_siblings/2.\n\nEste problema afecta a OTP desde OTP 26.2 antes de OTP 29.0.4, OTP 28.5.0.4 y OTP 27.3.4.15, correspondiente a public_key desde 1.15 antes de 1.21.4, 1.20.3.4 y 1.17.1.5."
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        "id": "CVE-2026-59251",
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                  "value": "\u003cp\u003eAllocation of resources without limits in Erlang/OTP public_key certificate path validation allows a remote unauthenticated attacker to cause denial of service by sending a crafted X.509 certificate chain during the TLS handshake.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDuring RFC 5280 policy processing in \u003ctt\u003epublic_key:pkix_path_validation/3\u003c/tt\u003e, the certificate policy tree maintained by \u003ctt\u003epubkey_policy_tree\u003c/tt\u003e grows without an upper bound. When a certificate chain contains M policies per certificate and K certificates, the tree grows on the order of M^K nodes because \u003ctt\u003epubkey_policy_tree:add_leaves/2\u003c/tt\u003e and \u003ctt\u003epubkey_policy_tree:add_leaf_siblings/2\u003c/tt\u003e extend the tree per policy per certificate. A modest chain with many policies per certificate is enough to pin BEAM schedulers and exhaust the node\u0027s memory, taking down the entire VM. The attacker only needs to be able to present a certificate chain to the victim, which is the normal precondition for a TLS handshake, so exploitation succeeds against any incoming or outgoing TLS connection that validates the peer\u0027s chain (the default for SSL/TLS clients and mutual-TLS servers).\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis is the same vulnerability class as OpenSSL\u0027s \u003ctt\u003eX509_verify_cert\u003c/tt\u003e policy tree DoS.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis vulnerability is associated with program files \u003ctt\u003elib/public_key/src/pubkey_policy_tree.erl\u003c/tt\u003e and program routines \u003ctt\u003epubkey_policy_tree:add_leaves/2\u003c/tt\u003e and \u003ctt\u003epubkey_policy_tree:add_leaf_siblings/2\u003c/tt\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis issue affects OTP from OTP 26.2 before OTP\u0026nbsp;29.0.4, OTP\u0026nbsp;28.5.0.4 and OTP\u0026nbsp;27.3.4.15, corresponding to public_key from 1.15 before 1.21.4, 1.20.3.4 and 1.17.1.5.\u003c/p\u003e"
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            {
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              "url": "https://www.erlang.org/doc/system/versions.html#order-of-versions"
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          "title": "Denial of service via exponential certificate policy tree growth in path validation",
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}

FKIE_CVE-2026-59251

Vulnerability from fkie_nvd - Published: 2026-07-27 16:18 - Updated: 2026-10-24 13:10

Severity

7.5 (High) - CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Summary

References

URL	Tags
6b3ad84c-e1a6-4bf7-a703-f496b71e49db	https://cna.erlef.org/cves/CVE-2026-59251.html	Patch, Third Party Advisory
6b3ad84c-e1a6-4bf7-a703-f496b71e49db	https://github.com/erlang/otp/commit/f04c6bba38de1cf1b1836a7d9a9fbe239bd939e8	Patch
6b3ad84c-e1a6-4bf7-a703-f496b71e49db	https://github.com/erlang/otp/commit/f8580fc117098c08165f46c26fd0750c5cfb2a90	Patch
6b3ad84c-e1a6-4bf7-a703-f496b71e49db	https://github.com/erlang/otp/security/advisories/GHSA-622p-qfh6-c352	Vendor Advisory
6b3ad84c-e1a6-4bf7-a703-f496b71e49db	https://osv.dev/vulnerability/EEF-CVE-2026-59251	Patch, Third Party Advisory
6b3ad84c-e1a6-4bf7-a703-f496b71e49db	https://www.erlang.org/doc/system/versions.html#order-of-versions	Release Notes

Impacted products

Vendor	Product	Version
erlang	erlang\/otp	*
erlang	erlang\/otp	*
erlang	erlang\/otp	*
erlang	erlang\/public_key	*
erlang	erlang\/public_key	*
erlang	erlang\/public_key	*

JSON

To clipboard

{
  "affected": [
    {
      "affectedData": [
        {
          "cpes": [
            "cpe:2.3:a:erlang:erlang\\/otp:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*"
          ],
          "defaultStatus": "unaffected",
          "modules": [
            "pubkey_policy_tree"
          ],
          "packageName": "public_key",
          "packageURL": "pkg:otp/public_key?repository_url=https:%2F%2Fgithub.com%2Ferlang%2Fotp\u0026vcs_url=git%20https:%2F%2Fgithub.com%2Ferlang%2Fotp.git",
          "product": "OTP",
          "programFiles": [
            "src/pubkey_policy_tree.erl"
          ],
          "programRoutines": [
            {
              "name": "pubkey_policy_tree:add_leaves/2"
            },
            {
              "name": "pubkey_policy_tree:add_leaf_siblings/2"
            }
          ],
          "repo": "https://github.com/erlang/otp",
          "vendor": "Erlang",
          "versions": [
            {
              "changes": [
                {
                  "at": "1.21.4",
                  "status": "unaffected"
                },
                {
                  "at": "1.20.3.4",
                  "status": "unaffected"
                },
                {
                  "at": "1.17.1.5",
                  "status": "unaffected"
                }
              ],
              "lessThan": "*",
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "1.15",
              "versionType": "otp"
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "collectionURL": "https://github.com",
          "cpes": [
            "cpe:2.3:a:erlang:erlang\\/otp:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*"
          ],
          "defaultStatus": "unaffected",
          "modules": [
            "pubkey_policy_tree"
          ],
          "packageName": "erlang/otp",
          "packageURL": "pkg:github/erlang/otp",
          "product": "OTP",
          "programFiles": [
            "lib/public_key/src/pubkey_policy_tree.erl"
          ],
          "programRoutines": [
            {
              "name": "pubkey_policy_tree:add_leaves/2"
            },
            {
              "name": "pubkey_policy_tree:add_leaf_siblings/2"
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          ],
          "repo": "https://github.com/erlang/otp",
          "vendor": "Erlang",
          "versions": [
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                  "status": "unaffected"
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                {
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                },
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                  "at": "27.3.4.15",
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                }
              ],
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              "status": "affected",
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              "changes": [
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                },
                {
                  "at": "f04c6bba38de1cf1b1836a7d9a9fbe239bd939e8",
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                }
              ],
              "lessThan": "*",
              "status": "affected",
              "version": "9d1dda7bad5a64b58c10a1554751689e94131a73",
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      ],
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              "matchCriteriaId": "13F15795-8FBC-49F6-BFB7-D8E8971392AF",
              "versionEndExcluding": "1.20.3.4",
              "versionStartIncluding": "1.18",
              "vulnerable": true
            },
            {
              "criteria": "cpe:2.3:a:erlang:erlang\\/public_key:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
              "matchCriteriaId": "00074E99-F2EA-4695-A47B-DA8E76652508",
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              "versionStartIncluding": "1.21",
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          "negate": false,
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    }
  ],
  "cveTags": [],
  "descriptions": [
    {
      "lang": "en",
      "value": "Allocation of resources without limits in Erlang/OTP public_key certificate path validation allows a remote unauthenticated attacker to cause denial of service by sending a crafted X.509 certificate chain during the TLS handshake.\n\nDuring RFC 5280 policy processing in public_key:pkix_path_validation/3, the certificate policy tree maintained by pubkey_policy_tree grows without an upper bound. When a certificate chain contains M policies per certificate and K certificates, the tree grows on the order of M^K nodes because pubkey_policy_tree:add_leaves/2 and pubkey_policy_tree:add_leaf_siblings/2 extend the tree per policy per certificate. A modest chain with many policies per certificate is enough to pin BEAM schedulers and exhaust the node\u0027s memory, taking down the entire VM. The attacker only needs to be able to present a certificate chain to the victim, which is the normal precondition for a TLS handshake, so exploitation succeeds against any incoming or outgoing TLS connection that validates the peer\u0027s chain (the default for SSL/TLS clients and mutual-TLS servers).\n\nThis is the same vulnerability class as OpenSSL\u0027s X509_verify_cert policy tree DoS.\n\nThis vulnerability is associated with program files lib/public_key/src/pubkey_policy_tree.erl and program routines pubkey_policy_tree:add_leaves/2 and pubkey_policy_tree:add_leaf_siblings/2.\n\nThis issue affects OTP from OTP 26.2 before OTP\u00a029.0.4, OTP\u00a028.5.0.4 and OTP\u00a027.3.4.15, corresponding to public_key from 1.15 before 1.21.4, 1.20.3.4 and 1.17.1.5."
    },
    {
      "lang": "es",
      "value": "Asignaci\u00f3n de recursos sin l\u00edmites en la validaci\u00f3n de ruta de certificado public_key de Erlang/OTP permite a un atacante remoto no autenticado causar denegaci\u00f3n de servicio enviando una cadena de certificados X.509 manipulada durante el handshake TLS.\n\nDurante el procesamiento de pol\u00edticas RFC 5280 en public_key:pkix_path_validation/3, el \u00e1rbol de pol\u00edticas de certificado mantenido por pubkey_policy_tree crece sin un l\u00edmite superior. Cuando una cadena de certificados contiene M pol\u00edticas por certificado y K certificados, el \u00e1rbol crece en el orden de M^K nodos porque pubkey_policy_tree:add_leaves/2 y pubkey_policy_tree:add_leaf_siblings/2 extienden el \u00e1rbol por pol\u00edtica por certificado. Una cadena modesta con muchas pol\u00edticas por certificado es suficiente para fijar los planificadores BEAM y agotar la memoria del nodo, derribando toda la VM. El atacante solo necesita poder presentar una cadena de certificados a la v\u00edctima, lo cual es la condici\u00f3n previa normal para un handshake TLS, por lo que la explotaci\u00f3n tiene \u00e9xito contra cualquier conexi\u00f3n TLS entrante o saliente que valida la cadena del par (el valor predeterminado para clientes SSL/TLS y servidores mutual-TLS).\n\nEsta es la misma clase de vulnerabilidad que el DoS del \u00e1rbol de pol\u00edticas X509_verify_cert de OpenSSL.\n\nEsta vulnerabilidad est\u00e1 asociada con los archivos de programa lib/public_key/src/pubkey_policy_tree.erl y las rutinas de programa pubkey_policy_tree:add_leaves/2 y pubkey_policy_tree:add_leaf_siblings/2.\n\nEste problema afecta a OTP desde OTP 26.2 antes de OTP 29.0.4, OTP 28.5.0.4 y OTP 27.3.4.15, correspondiente a public_key desde 1.15 antes de 1.21.4, 1.20.3.4 y 1.17.1.5."
    }
  ],
  "id": "CVE-2026-59251",
  "lastModified": "2026-10-24T13:10:00.147",
  "metrics": {
    "cvssMetricV31": [
      {
        "cvssData": {
          "attackComplexity": "LOW",
          "attackVector": "NETWORK",
          "availabilityImpact": "HIGH",
          "baseScore": 7.5,
          "baseSeverity": "HIGH",
          "confidentialityImpact": "NONE",
          "integrityImpact": "NONE",
          "privilegesRequired": "NONE",
          "scope": "UNCHANGED",
          "userInteraction": "NONE",
          "vectorString": "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H",
          "version": "3.1"
        },
        "exploitabilityScore": 3.9,
        "impactScore": 3.6,
        "source": "nvd@nist.gov",
        "type": "Primary"
      }
    ],
    "cvssMetricV40": [
      {
        "cvssData": {
          "Automatable": "NOT_DEFINED",
          "Recovery": "NOT_DEFINED",
          "Safety": "NOT_DEFINED",
          "attackComplexity": "LOW",
          "attackRequirements": "NONE",
          "attackVector": "NETWORK",
          "availabilityRequirement": "NOT_DEFINED",
          "baseScore": 8.7,
          "baseSeverity": "HIGH",
          "confidentialityRequirement": "NOT_DEFINED",
          "exploitMaturity": "NOT_DEFINED",
          "integrityRequirement": "NOT_DEFINED",
          "modifiedAttackComplexity": "NOT_DEFINED",
          "modifiedAttackRequirements": "NOT_DEFINED",
          "modifiedAttackVector": "NOT_DEFINED",
          "modifiedPrivilegesRequired": "NOT_DEFINED",
          "modifiedSubAvailabilityImpact": "NOT_DEFINED",
          "modifiedSubConfidentialityImpact": "NOT_DEFINED",
          "modifiedSubIntegrityImpact": "NOT_DEFINED",
          "modifiedUserInteraction": "NOT_DEFINED",
          "modifiedVulnAvailabilityImpact": "NOT_DEFINED",
          "modifiedVulnConfidentialityImpact": "NOT_DEFINED",
          "modifiedVulnIntegrityImpact": "NOT_DEFINED",
          "privilegesRequired": "NONE",
          "providerUrgency": "NOT_DEFINED",
          "subAvailabilityImpact": "LOW",
          "subConfidentialityImpact": "NONE",
          "subIntegrityImpact": "NONE",
          "userInteraction": "NONE",
          "valueDensity": "NOT_DEFINED",
          "vectorString": "CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:L/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X",
          "version": "4.0",
          "vulnAvailabilityImpact": "HIGH",
          "vulnConfidentialityImpact": "NONE",
          "vulnIntegrityImpact": "NONE",
          "vulnerabilityResponseEffort": "NOT_DEFINED"
        },
        "source": "6b3ad84c-e1a6-4bf7-a703-f496b71e49db",
        "type": "Secondary"
      }
    ],
    "ssvcV203": [
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        "source": "134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0",
        "ssvcData": {
          "id": "CVE-2026-59251",
          "options": [
            {
              "exploitation": "none"
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              "automatable": "yes"
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            {
              "technicalImpact": "partial"
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          ],
          "role": "CISA Coordinator",
          "timestamp": "2026-07-27T18:31:50.981990Z",
          "version": "2.0.3"
        }
      }
    ]
  },
  "published": "2026-07-27T16:18:03.517",
  "references": [
    {
      "source": "6b3ad84c-e1a6-4bf7-a703-f496b71e49db",
      "tags": [
        "Patch",
        "Third Party Advisory"
      ],
      "url": "https://cna.erlef.org/cves/CVE-2026-59251.html"
    },
    {
      "source": "6b3ad84c-e1a6-4bf7-a703-f496b71e49db",
      "tags": [
        "Patch"
      ],
      "url": "https://github.com/erlang/otp/commit/f04c6bba38de1cf1b1836a7d9a9fbe239bd939e8"
    },
    {
      "source": "6b3ad84c-e1a6-4bf7-a703-f496b71e49db",
      "tags": [
        "Patch"
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    },
    {
      "source": "6b3ad84c-e1a6-4bf7-a703-f496b71e49db",
      "tags": [
        "Vendor Advisory"
      ],
      "url": "https://github.com/erlang/otp/security/advisories/GHSA-622p-qfh6-c352"
    },
    {
      "source": "6b3ad84c-e1a6-4bf7-a703-f496b71e49db",
      "tags": [
        "Patch",
        "Third Party Advisory"
      ],
      "url": "https://osv.dev/vulnerability/EEF-CVE-2026-59251"
    },
    {
      "source": "6b3ad84c-e1a6-4bf7-a703-f496b71e49db",
      "tags": [
        "Release Notes"
      ],
      "url": "https://www.erlang.org/doc/system/versions.html#order-of-versions"
    }
  ],
  "sourceIdentifier": "6b3ad84c-e1a6-4bf7-a703-f496b71e49db",
  "vulnStatus": "Analyzed",
  "weaknesses": [
    {
      "description": [
        {
          "lang": "en",
          "value": "CWE-770"
        }
      ],
      "source": "6b3ad84c-e1a6-4bf7-a703-f496b71e49db",
      "type": "Secondary"
    }
  ]
}

MSRC_CVE-2026-59251

Vulnerability from csaf_microsoft - Published: 2026-08-07 00:40 - Updated: 2026-08-07 00:40

Summary

CVE-2026-59251

Scope

1 vulnerability in this advisory, including CVE-2026-59251.

CVE-2026-59251

Fixed: 1 product Known affected: 1 product

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-linux/tutoria…

Open the full advisory

OPENSUSE-SU-2026:11559-1

Vulnerability from csaf_opensuse - Published: 2026-08-20 00:00 - Updated: 2026-10-15 17:16

Summary

erlang-28.5.0.4-1.1 on GA media

Severity

Moderate

Scope

24 vulnerabilities in this advisory, including CVE-2026-59251.

CVE-2026-59251

8.6 (High)


                
                  CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H

Recommended: 80 products

Open the full advisory

OPENSUSE-SU-2026:11560-1

Vulnerability from csaf_opensuse - Published: 2026-08-20 00:00 - Updated: 2026-10-15 17:16

Summary

erlang27-27.1.3-3.1 on GA media

Severity

Moderate

Scope

21 vulnerabilities in this advisory, including CVE-2026-59251.

CVE-2026-59251

8.6 (High)


                
                  CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H

Recommended: 80 products

Open the full advisory

RHSA-2026:47009

Vulnerability from csaf_redhat - Published: 2026-07-28 02:50 - Updated: 2026-10-05 18:14

Summary

Red Hat Security Advisory: Red Hat Hardened Images RPMs bug fix and enhancement update

Severity

Critical

Scope

5 vulnerabilities in this advisory, including CVE-2026-59251.

CVE-2026-59251

A flaw was found in Erlang/OTP's `public_key` application. A remote, unauthenticated attacker can exploit this vulnerability by sending a specially crafted X.509 certificate chain during a Transport Layer Security (TLS) handshake. This causes the certificate path validation process to consume excessive central processing unit (CPU) and memory resources, leading to a denial of service (DoS) by crashing the Erlang Virtual Machine (VM).

7.5 (High)


                
                  CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Fixed: 79 products

https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:47009

Open the full advisory

UBUNTU-CVE-2026-59251 (CVE-2026-59251)

Vulnerability from osv_ubuntu – Published: 2026-07-27 16:18 – Updated: 2026-09-28 20:31 – Source website

Details

Severity

8.7 (High)


                    
                      CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:L

7.5 (High)


                    
                      CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

N/A (UNKNOWN)


                    
                      medium

References

URL

Type

	https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2026-59251	REPORT
	https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-59251	REPORT
	https://ubuntu.com/security/notices/USN-8827-1	ADVISORY

JSON

To clipboard

{
  "affected": [
    {
      "ecosystem_specific": {
        "availability": "No subscription required",
        "binaries": [
          {
            "binary_name": "erlang",
            "binary_version": "1:27.3.4.6+dfsg-1ubuntu0.1"
          },
          {
            "binary_name": "erlang-asn1",
            "binary_version": "1:27.3.4.6+dfsg-1ubuntu0.1"
          },
          {
            "binary_name": "erlang-base",
            "binary_version": "1:27.3.4.6+dfsg-1ubuntu0.1"
          },
          {
            "binary_name": "erlang-common-test",
            "binary_version": "1:27.3.4.6+dfsg-1ubuntu0.1"
          },
          {
            "binary_name": "erlang-crypto",
            "binary_version": "1:27.3.4.6+dfsg-1ubuntu0.1"
          },
          {
            "binary_name": "erlang-debugger",
            "binary_version": "1:27.3.4.6+dfsg-1ubuntu0.1"
          },
          {
            "binary_name": "erlang-dialyzer",
            "binary_version": "1:27.3.4.6+dfsg-1ubuntu0.1"
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          },
          {
            "binary_name": "erlang-edoc",
            "binary_version": "1:27.3.4.6+dfsg-1ubuntu0.1"
          },
          {
            "binary_name": "erlang-eldap",
            "binary_version": "1:27.3.4.6+dfsg-1ubuntu0.1"
          },
          {
            "binary_name": "erlang-et",
            "binary_version": "1:27.3.4.6+dfsg-1ubuntu0.1"
          },
          {
            "binary_name": "erlang-eunit",
            "binary_version": "1:27.3.4.6+dfsg-1ubuntu0.1"
          },
          {
            "binary_name": "erlang-examples",
            "binary_version": "1:27.3.4.6+dfsg-1ubuntu0.1"
          },
          {
            "binary_name": "erlang-ftp",
            "binary_version": "1:27.3.4.6+dfsg-1ubuntu0.1"
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          {
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            "binary_version": "1:27.3.4.6+dfsg-1ubuntu0.1"
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            "binary_version": "1:27.3.4.6+dfsg-1ubuntu0.1"
          },
          {
            "binary_name": "erlang-megaco",
            "binary_version": "1:27.3.4.6+dfsg-1ubuntu0.1"
          },
          {
            "binary_name": "erlang-mnesia",
            "binary_version": "1:27.3.4.6+dfsg-1ubuntu0.1"
          },
          {
            "binary_name": "erlang-mode",
            "binary_version": "1:27.3.4.6+dfsg-1ubuntu0.1"
          },
          {
            "binary_name": "erlang-nox",
            "binary_version": "1:27.3.4.6+dfsg-1ubuntu0.1"
          },
          {
            "binary_name": "erlang-observer",
            "binary_version": "1:27.3.4.6+dfsg-1ubuntu0.1"
          },
          {
            "binary_name": "erlang-odbc",
            "binary_version": "1:27.3.4.6+dfsg-1ubuntu0.1"
          },
          {
            "binary_name": "erlang-os-mon",
            "binary_version": "1:27.3.4.6+dfsg-1ubuntu0.1"
          },
          {
            "binary_name": "erlang-parsetools",
            "binary_version": "1:27.3.4.6+dfsg-1ubuntu0.1"
          },
          {
            "binary_name": "erlang-public-key",
            "binary_version": "1:27.3.4.6+dfsg-1ubuntu0.1"
          },
          {
            "binary_name": "erlang-reltool",
            "binary_version": "1:27.3.4.6+dfsg-1ubuntu0.1"
          },
          {
            "binary_name": "erlang-runtime-tools",
            "binary_version": "1:27.3.4.6+dfsg-1ubuntu0.1"
          },
          {
            "binary_name": "erlang-snmp",
            "binary_version": "1:27.3.4.6+dfsg-1ubuntu0.1"
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          {
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            "binary_version": "1:27.3.4.6+dfsg-1ubuntu0.1"
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          {
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            "binary_version": "1:27.3.4.6+dfsg-1ubuntu0.1"
          },
          {
            "binary_name": "erlang-ssl",
            "binary_version": "1:27.3.4.6+dfsg-1ubuntu0.1"
          },
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            "binary_name": "erlang-syntax-tools",
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          {
            "binary_name": "erlang-tftp",
            "binary_version": "1:27.3.4.6+dfsg-1ubuntu0.1"
          },
          {
            "binary_name": "erlang-tools",
            "binary_version": "1:27.3.4.6+dfsg-1ubuntu0.1"
          },
          {
            "binary_name": "erlang-wx",
            "binary_version": "1:27.3.4.6+dfsg-1ubuntu0.1"
          },
          {
            "binary_name": "erlang-x11",
            "binary_version": "1:27.3.4.6+dfsg-1ubuntu0.1"
          },
          {
            "binary_name": "erlang-xmerl",
            "binary_version": "1:27.3.4.6+dfsg-1ubuntu0.1"
          }
        ]
      },
      "package": {
        "ecosystem": "Ubuntu:26.04:LTS",
        "name": "erlang",
        "purl": "pkg:deb/ubuntu/erlang@1:27.3.4.6+dfsg-1ubuntu0.1?arch=source\u0026distro=resolute"
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            {
              "fixed": "1:27.3.4.6+dfsg-1ubuntu0.1"
            }
          ],
          "type": "ECOSYSTEM"
        }
      ],
      "versions": [
        "1:27.3.4.1+dfsg-1build1",
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  ],
  "aliases": [],
  "details": "Allocation of resources without limits in Erlang/OTP public_key certificate path validation allows a remote unauthenticated attacker to cause denial of service by sending a crafted X.509 certificate chain during the TLS handshake. During RFC 5280 policy processing in public_key:pkix_path_validation/3, the certificate policy tree maintained by pubkey_policy_tree grows without an upper bound. When a certificate chain contains M policies per certificate and K certificates, the tree grows on the order of M^K nodes because pubkey_policy_tree:add_leaves/2 and pubkey_policy_tree:add_leaf_siblings/2 extend the tree per policy per certificate. A modest chain with many policies per certificate is enough to pin BEAM schedulers and exhaust the node\u0027s memory, taking down the entire VM. The attacker only needs to be able to present a certificate chain to the victim, which is the normal precondition for a TLS handshake, so exploitation succeeds against any incoming or outgoing TLS connection that validates the peer\u0027s chain (the default for SSL/TLS clients and mutual-TLS servers). This is the same vulnerability class as OpenSSL\u0027s X509_verify_cert policy tree DoS. This vulnerability is associated with program files lib/public_key/src/pubkey_policy_tree.erl and program routines pubkey_policy_tree:add_leaves/2 and pubkey_policy_tree:add_leaf_siblings/2. This issue affects OTP from OTP 26.2 before OTP\u00a029.0.4, OTP\u00a028.5.0.4 and OTP\u00a027.3.4.15, corresponding to public_key from 1.15 before 1.21.4, 1.20.3.4 and 1.17.1.5.",
  "id": "UBUNTU-CVE-2026-59251",
  "modified": "2026-09-28T20:31:12Z",
  "published": "2026-07-27T16:18:00Z",
  "references": [
    {
      "type": "REPORT",
      "url": "https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2026-59251"
    },
    {
      "type": "REPORT",
      "url": "https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-59251"
    },
    {
      "type": "ADVISORY",
      "url": "https://ubuntu.com/security/notices/USN-8827-1"
    }
  ],
  "related": [
    "USN-8827-1"
  ],
  "schema_version": "1.7.0",
  "severity": [
    {
      "score": "CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:L",
      "type": "CVSS_V4"
    },
    {
      "score": "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H",
      "type": "CVSS_V3"
    },
    {
      "score": "medium",
      "type": "Ubuntu"
    }
  ],
  "upstream": [
    "CVE-2026-59251"
  ]
}

Sightings

Author	Source	Type	Date	Other

Nomenclature

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Confirmed: The vulnerability has been validated from an analyst's perspective.
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Exploited: The vulnerability was observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
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Not confirmed: The user expressed doubt about the validity of the vulnerability.
Not patched: The vulnerability was not observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.

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The MITRE ATT&CK techniques below are AI-generated suggestions, inferred from the description of the vulnerability by the CIRCL/vulnerability-attack-technique-classification-roberta-base model, served locally by ML-Gateway. They have not been verified by an analyst and are provided for guidance only.
The approach is described in our paper Mapping CVEs to MITRE ATT&CK Techniques: A Curated Gold-Set Classifier and the Limits of LLM-Assisted Label Expansion.
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Related by attack behaviour

Vulnerabilities whose description is nearest to this one in the vector space of the CIRCL/vulnerability-attack-technique-biencoder model. This is a similarity search over the bi-encoder space (plain cosine), not a classification, and it has no measured accuracy.

Action not permitted

CVE-2026-59251 (GCVE-0-2026-59251)

FKIE_CVE-2026-59251

MSRC_CVE-2026-59251

OPENSUSE-SU-2026:11559-1

OPENSUSE-SU-2026:11560-1

RHSA-2026:47009

UBUNTU-CVE-2026-59251 (CVE-2026-59251)

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Related by attack behaviour