Heap pointer corruption via signed/unsigned mismatch in LARGE_TUPLE_EXT decoding in erts external term format decoder
Summary
| CVE | CVE-2026-55737 |
|---|---|
| State | PUBLISHED |
| Assigner | EEF |
| Source Priority | CVE Program / NVD first with legacy fallback |
| Published | 2026-07-27 16:17:48 UTC |
| Updated | 2026-07-27 19:17:17 UTC |
| Description | Signed to Unsigned Conversion Error and Out-of-bounds Write vulnerability in Erlang OTP erts allows an attacker who can supply a crafted Erlang external term format (ETF) binary to binary_to_term/1 to corrupt the BEAM heap pointer and crash the virtual machine. When decoding a LARGE_TUPLE_EXT term, the validation pass decoded_size() in erts/emulator/beam/external.c reads the 32-bit arity field as unsigned (get_uint32()), while the decode pass dec_term() reads the same field as a signed 32-bit integer (get_int32()) into an int. An arity wire value of 0x80000000 passes validation as 2147483648 but decodes as -2147483648, so the subsequent hp += n moves the heap allocation pointer backward. Neither pass enforces the runtime tuple-arity limit MAX_ARITYVAL. The result is an out-of-bounds heap write; in practice the VM detects an impossible heap size and aborts, denying service. The required padding is large when uncompressed but the compressed-ETF envelope shrinks it to a small payload on the wire. This issue affects OTP from OTP 25.0 before OTP 29.0.4, OTP 28.5.0.4 and OTP 27.3.4.15, corresponding to erts from 13.0 before 17.0.4, 16.4.0.4 and 15.2.7.11. |
Risk And Classification
Primary CVSS: v4.0 5.1 MEDIUM from 6b3ad84c-e1a6-4bf7-a703-f496b71e49db
CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/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
Problem Types: CWE-195 | CWE-787 | CWE-195 CWE-195 Signed to Unsigned Conversion Error | CWE-787 CWE-787 Out-of-bounds Write
| Version | Source | Type | Score | Severity | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4.0 | 6b3ad84c-e1a6-4bf7-a703-f496b71e49db | Secondary | 5.1 | MEDIUM | CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/C... |
| 4.0 | CNA | CVSS | 5.1 | MEDIUM | CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N |
CVSS v4.0 Breakdown
Attack Vector
LocalAttack Complexity
LowAttack Requirements
NonePrivileges Required
NoneUser Interaction
NoneConfidentiality
NoneIntegrity
NoneAvailability
LowSub Conf.
NoneSub Integrity
NoneSub Availability
NoneCVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/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 Declared Affected Products
References
| Reference | Source | Link | Tags |
|---|---|---|---|
| cna.erlef.org/cves/CVE-2026-55737.html | 6b3ad84c-e1a6-4bf7-a703-f496b71e49db | cna.erlef.org | |
| github.com/erlang/otp/security/advisories/GHSA-446w-268v-9462 | 6b3ad84c-e1a6-4bf7-a703-f496b71e49db | github.com | |
| github.com/erlang/otp/commit/c5210b42a9d3d96f3d25601942ce8122be0f3761 | 6b3ad84c-e1a6-4bf7-a703-f496b71e49db | github.com | |
| www.erlang.org/doc/system/versions.html | 6b3ad84c-e1a6-4bf7-a703-f496b71e49db | www.erlang.org | |
| osv.dev/vulnerability/EEF-CVE-2026-55737 | 6b3ad84c-e1a6-4bf7-a703-f496b71e49db | osv.dev | |
| CVE Program record | CVE.ORG | www.cve.org | canonical |
| NVD vulnerability detail | NVD | nvd.nist.gov | canonical, analysis |
Vendor Comments And Credit
Discovery Credit
CNA: Nick Gunn (en)
CNA: Kiko Fernandez-Reyes (en)
CNA: Sverker Eriksson (en)
There are currently no legacy QID mappings associated with this CVE.