CVE-2026-42792
published 2026-07-27CVE-2026-42792: Improper Handling of Exceptional Conditions vulnerability in Erlang OTP erts (epmd) allows an unauthenticated remote attacker to permanently terminate the…
PriorityP346high7.5CVSS 3.1
AVNACLPRNUINSUCNINAH
EPSS
0.43%
36.8th percentile
Improper Handling of Exceptional Conditions vulnerability in Erlang OTP erts (epmd) allows an unauthenticated remote attacker to permanently terminate the Erlang Port Mapper Daemon (epmd) via connection slot exhaustion.
The do_accept function in erts/epmd/src/epmd_srv.c calls epmd_cleanup_exit() when accept(2) returns EMFILE (per-process file descriptor limit reached) or ENFILE (system-wide file descriptor limit reached), rather than treating these as recoverable conditions. An attacker can exhaust epmd's file descriptor slots by holding many TCP connections open while periodically sending a single byte to reset the idle timeout, then causing accept(2) to return EMFILE, which kills the daemon. epmd has no per-source-IP connection cap, making the attack feasible from a single source.
On Debian/Ubuntu default packaging the impact is amplified: the systemd unit inherits a low file descriptor soft limit, and repeated daemon deaths trigger systemd's start-rate-limit, permanently failing both epmd.service and epmd.socket and requiring manual operator intervention to recover.
This issue affects OTP from OTP 17.0 before OTP 29.0.4, OTP 28.5.0.4 and OTP 27.3.4.15.
Affected
10 ranges
| Vendor | Product | Version range | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|---|
| erlang | erlang_otp | >= 17.0 < 27.3.4 | 27.3.4 |
| erlang | erlang_otp | >= 28.0 < 28.5.0.4 | 28.5.0.4 |
| erlang | erlang_otp | >= 29.0 < 29.0.4 | 29.0.4 |
| erlang | erts | >= 16.0 < 16.4.0.4 | 16.4.0.4 |
| erlang | erts | >= 17.0 < 17.0.4 | 17.0.4 |
| erlang | erts | >= 6.0 < 15.2.7.11 | 15.2.7.11 |
| erlang | otp | >= 07b8f441ca711f9812fad9e9115bab3c3aa92f79 < 865d203e4a6a8f44179eced9e1428f9259e4a3bb | 865d203e4a6a8f44179eced9e1428f9259e4a3bb |
| erlang | otp | >= 17.0 < * | * |
| erlang | otp | >= 6.0 < * | * |
| ubuntu | erlang | — | — |
CVSS provenance
nvdv3.17.5HIGHCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
nvdv4.06.3MEDIUMCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/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
vendor_ubuntu7.5HIGH
vendor_redhat6.3MEDIUM
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Ubuntu
Erlang vulnerabilities
vendor_ubuntu·2026-09-28·CVSS 7.5
CVE-2026-23941 [HIGH] Erlang vulnerabilities
Title: Erlang vulnerabilities
Summary: Several security issues were fixed in Erlang.
It was discovered that the Erlang Port Mapper Daemon did not properly
handle slow connections. A remote attacker could possibly use this issue
to cause a denial of service. (CVE-2026-42792)
It was discovered that Erlang incorrectly handled certain external term
format data, leading to heap corruption. An attacker could possibly use
this issue to cause Erlang to crash, resulting in a denial of service.
This issue only affected Ubuntu 24.04 LTS and Ubuntu 26.04 LTS.
(CVE-2026-55737)
It was discovered that Erlang incorrectly handled invalid external term
format data. An attacker could possibly use this issue to cause Erlang to
crash, resulting in a denial of service. This issue only affected Ubuntu
26.04
Red Hat
erlang-otp: epmd: Erlang OTP epmd: Remote Denial of Service via connection exhaustion
vendor_redhat·2026-07-27·CVSS 6.3
CVE-2026-42792 [MEDIUM] CWE-253 erlang-otp: epmd: Erlang OTP epmd: Remote Denial of Service via connection exhaustion
erlang-otp: epmd: Erlang OTP epmd: Remote Denial of Service via connection exhaustion
A flaw was found in Erlang OTP's Erlang Port Mapper Daemon (epmd). An unauthenticated remote attacker can exploit an improper handling of exceptional conditions in the do_accept function. By exhausting connection slots through holding numerous TCP connections open and periodically sending data, the attacker can force epmd to terminate, leading to a permanent Denial of Service (DoS). This can further impact system stability on certain Linux distributions by causing related services to fail permanently.
No detection rules found.
No public exploits indexed.
https://cna.erlef.org/cves/CVE-2026-42792.htmlhttps://github.com/erlang/otp/commit/865d203e4a6a8f44179eced9e1428f9259e4a3bbhttps://github.com/erlang/otp/security/advisories/GHSA-h6f3-hx58-xhj6https://osv.dev/vulnerability/EEF-CVE-2026-42792https://www.erlang.org/doc/system/versions.html#order-of-versions
2026-07-27
Published