Unbounded SAML message decompression in esaml allows memory exhaustion
Summary
| CVE | CVE-2026-93471 |
|---|---|
| State | PUBLISHED |
| Assigner | EEF |
| Source Priority | CVE Program / NVD first with legacy fallback |
| Published | 2026-10-22 09:17:16 UTC |
| Updated | 2026-10-22 16:58:51 UTC |
| Description | Improper Handling of Highly Compressed Data (Data Amplification) in esaml_binding in dropbox esaml allows an unauthenticated attacker to exhaust server memory and crash the Erlang VM via a crafted compressed SAMLResponse. esaml_binding:decode_response/2 base64-decodes the attacker-supplied SAMLResponse, inflates it with zlib:unzip/1 with no bound on the output, then converts the result to a charlist with binary_to_list/1 before parsing. This runs on the SAML consume (ACS) and single-logout endpoints, which accept unauthenticated requests by design, and it runs before any signature check. A small deflate stream reaches a compression ratio near 1000 to 1, so a request body of tens of kilobytes inflates to hundreds of megabytes and then to several gigabytes of list heap, so a few requests exhaust memory and take the node down. This issue affects esaml: from 0.1.0 onward. |
Risk And Classification
Primary CVSS: v4.0 8.7 HIGH from 6b3ad84c-e1a6-4bf7-a703-f496b71e49db
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/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
EPSS: 0.004380000 probability, percentile 0.370240000 (date 2026-10-22)
Problem Types: CWE-409 | CWE-409 CWE-409 Improper Handling of Highly Compressed Data (Data Amplification)
| Version | Source | Type | Score | Severity | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4.0 | 6b3ad84c-e1a6-4bf7-a703-f496b71e49db | Secondary | 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:N/E:X/C... |
| 4.0 | CNA | CVSS | 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:N |
CVSS v4.0 Breakdown
Attack Vector
NetworkAttack Complexity
LowAttack Requirements
NonePrivileges Required
NoneUser Interaction
NoneConfidentiality
NoneIntegrity
NoneAvailability
HighSub Conf.
NoneSub Integrity
NoneSub Availability
NoneCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/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
| Source | Vendor | Product | Version | Platforms |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CNA | Handnot2 | Esaml | affected deeb84378d5c82153b470e99d24f77c38afca14a * git | Not specified |
| CNA | Arekinath | Esaml | affected deeb84378d5c82153b470e99d24f77c38afca14a * git | Not specified |
| CNA | Dropbox | Esaml | affected 0.1.0 * semver | Not specified |
| CNA | Dropbox | Esaml | affected deeb84378d5c82153b470e99d24f77c38afca14a * git | Not specified |
References
| Reference | Source | Link | Tags |
|---|---|---|---|
| github.com/dropbox/esaml/commit/deeb84378d5c82153b470e99d24f77c38afca14a | 6b3ad84c-e1a6-4bf7-a703-f496b71e49db | github.com | |
| github.com/handnot2/esaml/commit/deeb84378d5c82153b470e99d24f77c38afca14a | 6b3ad84c-e1a6-4bf7-a703-f496b71e49db | github.com | |
| github.com/arekinath/esaml/commit/deeb84378d5c82153b470e99d24f77c38afca14a | 6b3ad84c-e1a6-4bf7-a703-f496b71e49db | github.com | |
| cna.erlef.org/cves/CVE-2026-93471.html | 6b3ad84c-e1a6-4bf7-a703-f496b71e49db | cna.erlef.org | |
| osv.dev/vulnerability/EEF-CVE-2026-93471 | 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: Quinn Wilton (en)
CNA: Jonatan Männchen / EEF (en)
CNA: Jonatan Männchen / EEF (en)
There are currently no legacy QID mappings associated with this CVE.