Improper Handling of Exceptional Conditions in Erlang/OTP Affected by Remote Attacks
CVE-2026-42792

6.3MEDIUM

Key Information:

Vendor

Erlang

Status
Otp
Vendor
CVE Published:
27 July 2026

What is CVE-2026-42792?

A vulnerability in Erlang OTP's Port Mapper Daemon (epmd) allows remote attackers to permanently crash the daemon through a method of connection slot exhaustion. The flaw resides in the do_accept function, which mishandles errors from accept(2), leading to the unwarranted termination of epmd when file descriptor limits are reached. Attackers can exploit this weakness by maintaining multiple TCP connections open and frequently sending minimal data to reset connection timeouts. This issue is particularly problematic in Debian/Ubuntu systems where the default configuration exacerbates the impact, leading to daemon downtime and requiring manual recovery interventions.

Affected Version(s)

OTP 6.0

OTP 17.0

OTP 07b8f441ca711f9812fad9e9115bab3c3aa92f79 < 865d203e4a6a8f44179eced9e1428f9259e4a3bb

References

https://github.com/erlang/otp/security/advisories/GHSA-h6...
vendor-advisoryrelated
https://cna.erlef.org/cves/CVE-2026-42792.html
related
https://osv.dev/vulnerability/EEF-CVE-2026-42792
related

CVSS V4

Score:
6.3
Severity:
MEDIUM
Confidentiality:
None
Integrity:
None
Availability:
Low
Attack Vector:
Network
Attack Complexity:
Low
Attack Required:
Physical
Privileges Required:
Undefined
User Interaction:
None

Timeline

  • Vulnerability published

  • Vulnerability Reserved

Credit

Ryan Moore
John Högberg
.