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.

The remote Ubuntu 14.04 LTS / 16.04 LTS / 18.04 LTS / 20.04 LTS / 22.04 LTS / 24.04 LTS / 26.04 LTS host has packages installed that are affected by multiple vulnerabilities as referenced in the USN-8827-1 advisory.

    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 LTS. (CVE-2026-54890)

    It was discovered that Erlang incorrectly handled certain packet lengths, leading to a buffer overflow. A     remote attacker could possibly use this issue to cause Erlang to crash or execute arbitrary code.
    (CVE-2026-75538)

    It was discovered that the Erlang Megaco flex scanner incorrectly handled certain input, leading to a     buffer overflow. A remote attacker could possibly use this issue to cause Erlang to crash or execute     arbitrary code. (CVE-2026-59250)

    It was discovered that Erlang TLS clients incorrectly accepted cipher suites that they had not offered. A     remote attacker could possibly use this issue to intercept and modify TLS communications. (CVE-2026-55953)

    It was discovered that Erlang incorrectly handled certain certificate chains. A remote attacker could     possibly use this issue to cause Erlang to use excessive resources, leading to a denial of service. This     issue only affected Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, and Ubuntu 26.04 LTS. (CVE-2026-58227)

    It was discovered that Erlang incorrectly handled certain certificate policies. A remote attacker could     possibly use this issue to cause Erlang to use excessive resources, leading to a denial of service. This     issue only affected Ubuntu 26.04 LTS. (CVE-2026-59251)

    It was discovered that the Erlang HTTP server incorrectly handled certain conflicting HTTP framing     headers. A remote attacker could possibly use this issue to smuggle HTTP requests. (CVE-2026-23941,     CVE-2026-73812)

    It was discovered that the Erlang HTTP server incorrectly handled certain malformed chunk sizes. A remote     attacker could possibly use this issue to cause Erlang to crash, resulting in a denial of service.
    (CVE-2026-69664)

    It was discovered that the Erlang HTTP server did not properly limit the size of chunked request bodies. A     remote attacker could possibly use this issue to cause Erlang to use excessive resources, leading to a     denial of service. (CVE-2026-74835)

    It was discovered that the Erlang HTTP server incorrectly handled certain equivalent request paths and     differences in character case. A remote attacker could possibly use this issue to bypass authentication     and gain unauthorized access. (CVE-2026-66835, CVE-2026-73270)

    It was discovered that the Erlang HTTP server did not properly limit simultaneous connections. A remote     attacker could possibly use this issue to cause Erlang to use excessive resources, leading to a denial of     service. This issue only affected Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, Ubuntu 18.04 LTS, Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, Ubuntu 22.04 LTS,     Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, and Ubuntu 26.04 LTS. (CVE-2026-70399)

    It was discovered that the Erlang HTTP server incorrectly handled header continuation lines. A remote     attacker could possibly use this issue to smuggle HTTP requests. (CVE-2026-66357)

    It was discovered that the Erlang HTTP server incorrectly handled certain malformed header names. A remote     attacker could possibly use this issue to smuggle HTTP requests. This issue only affected Ubuntu 20.04     LTS, Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, and Ubuntu 26.04 LTS. (CVE-2026-73276)

    It was discovered that the Erlang HTTP server incorrectly handled incomplete request bodies. A remote     attacker could possibly use this issue to cause Erlang to use excessive resources, leading to a denial of     service. (CVE-2026-71380)

    It was discovered that the Erlang HTTP client did not properly limit the size of HTTP response headers. A     malicious HTTP server could possibly use this issue to cause Erlang to use excessive resources, leading to     a denial of service. (CVE-2026-55951)

    It was discovered that Erlang did not properly limit the length of port numbers when parsing URIs. A     remote attacker could possibly use this issue to cause Erlang to use excessive resources, leading to a     denial of service. This issue only affected Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, and     Ubuntu 26.04 LTS. (CVE-2026-59696)

    It was discovered that the Erlang SNMP application did not properly limit the size of certain integer     values. A remote attacker could possibly use this issue to cause Erlang to use excessive resources,     leading to a denial of service. (CVE-2026-70405)

    It was discovered that the Erlang LDAP client did not properly limit the length of port numbers in     referral URLs. A malicious LDAP server could possibly use this issue to cause Erlang to use excessive     resources, leading to a denial of service. (CVE-2026-70409)

Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the Ubuntu security advisory.

Note that Nessus has not tested for these issues but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

The remote Debian 13 host has packages installed that are affected by multiple vulnerabilities as referenced in the dsa-6464 advisory.

    - -------------------------------------------------------------------------     Debian Security Advisory DSA-6464-1                   security@debian.org     https://www.debian.org/security/                                  Aron Xu     August 25, 2026                       https://www.debian.org/security/faq
    - -------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Package        : erlang     CVE ID         : CVE-2026-28808 CVE-2026-28810 CVE-2026-32144 CVE-2026-32147                      CVE-2026-42789 CVE-2026-42790 CVE-2026-42791 CVE-2026-42792                      CVE-2026-47078 CVE-2026-48855 CVE-2026-48856 CVE-2026-48858                      CVE-2026-48860 CVE-2026-49759 CVE-2026-49760 CVE-2026-53422                      CVE-2026-54886 CVE-2026-54887 CVE-2026-54890 CVE-2026-54891                      CVE-2026-55737 CVE-2026-55950 CVE-2026-55952 CVE-2026-55953                      CVE-2026-58227 CVE-2026-59250 CVE-2026-59251     Debian Bug     : 1139727 1139823 1141414 1142985

    Multiple vulnerabilities were discovered in Erlang/OTP, a concurrent,     real-time, distributed functional language, which may result in denial of     service, information disclosure, authentication and certificate validation     bypass, or the execution of arbitrary code. These vulnerbilities affect a     wide range of components: TLS and certificate validation (ssl, public_key),     SSH (ssh), network clients and servers (inets, ftp, epmd, kernel),     runtime and libraries (erts, erl_interface, stdlib, megaco).

    Several of these fixes tighten checks that were previously too permissive,     and can cause configurations that worked before to stop working. The most     likely to be noticed are:

     - TLS clients using verify_peer, which is the default, now reject        certificates that carry no subjectAltName extension; the        customize_hostname_check option does not restore the old behaviour.

     - Erlang distribution over TLS with the kernel 'check_ip' option now        enforces the check that was previously a no-op, so clusters whose nodes        are not on the same subnet lose distribution connectivity until the        option is unset.

     - TLS clients that request OCSP stapling now fail the handshake when the        server provides no stapled response.

     - Clients using TLS 1.2 or earlier now abort the handshake if the server        sends an ALPN extension that the client did not advertise.

     - DNS queries made through inet_res now use randomised source ports

    For the stable distribution (trixie), these problems have been fixed in     version 1:27.3.4.1+dfsg-1+deb13u3.

    We recommend that you upgrade your erlang packages.

    For the detailed security status of erlang please refer to     its security tracker page at:
    https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/erlang

    Further information about Debian Security Advisories, how to apply     these updates to your system and frequently asked questions can be     found at: https://www.debian.org/security/

    Mailing list: debian-security-announce@lists.debian.org

Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the Debian security advisory.

Note that Nessus has not tested for these issues but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

An update of the erlang package has been released.

The remote SUSE Linux SLES15 / SLES_SAP15 host has packages installed that are affected by multiple vulnerabilities as referenced in the SUSE-SU-2026:3645-1 advisory.

    - CVE-2026-28810: predictable DNS transaction IDs can cause DNS cache poisoning (bsc#1261726).
    - CVE-2026-42789: `public_key` application accepts non-CA certificates as intermediate issuers and this     enables chain       forgery (bsc#1266449).
    - CVE-2026-42790: Name constraints and `Subject CommonName` fallback in TLS hostname verification allows     for certificate       forgery by MITM attacker (bsc#1266466).
    - CVE-2026-42792: permanent `epmd` DoS via connection slot exhaustion due to improper handling of     exceptional       conditions (bsc#1272908).
    - CVE-2026-47078: relative path traversal in `zip:unzip/zip:extract` via `check_dir_level` depth-counter     bypass       (bsc#1272909).
    - CVE-2026-48855: SFTP `READLINK` response leaks absolute backend filesystem path when root is configured     (bsc#1268139).
    - CVE-2026-48856: `httpc` leaks `Authorization` headers to cross-origin redirect targets (bsc#1268141).
    - CVE-2026-48858: server-side request forgery allows FTP bounce attacks and SSRF via an unvalidated `PASV`     response IP       address (bsc#1268142).
    - CVE-2026-49759: unbounded stack buffer overflow in SCTP error cause parsing in `inet_drv` (bsc#1268163).
    - CVE-2026-49760: stack buffer overflow in `ei_s_print_term` at very large integer (bsc#1268164).
    - CVE-2026-53422: SFTP `REALPATH` path-existence oracle allows filesystem enumeration outside configured     root       (bsc#1270245).
    - CVE-2026-54886: SSH SFTP server denial of service via extended channel data infinite loop (bsc#1270246).
    - CVE-2026-54887: use of default cryptographic key allows predictable DTLS cookie computation during the     startup window       (bsc#1270247).
    - CVE-2026-54891: plaintext injection towards (D)TLS client during handshake (bsc#1270250).
    - CVE-2026-55737: heap pointer corruption via signed/unsigned mismatch in `LARGE_TUPLE_EXTP` decoding in     `erts`       external term format decoder (bsc#1272910).
    - CVE-2026-55952: missing validation allows for DoS of the TLS-1.3 server when clients send a malformed     `ClientHello`       with mismatched PSK identity and binder list lengths (bsc#1270258).
    - CVE-2026-55953: TLS 1.2 and DTLS clients accept unoffered anonymous cipher suites and allow for server     authentication       bypass (bsc#1272911).
    - CVE-2026-58227: TLS/DTLS denial of service via unbounded recursion on cross-signed peer certificate     chain       (bsc#1272913).
    - CVE-2026-59250: `megaco` flex scanner buffer overflow via oversized property parm name (bsc#1272914).

Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the SUSE security advisory.

Note that Nessus has not tested for these issues but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

The remote SUSE Linux SLES15 / SLES_SAP15 host has packages installed that are affected by multiple vulnerabilities as referenced in the SUSE-SU-2026:3579-1 advisory.

    - CVE-2026-28810: predictable DNS transaction IDs can cause DNS cache poisoning (bsc#1261726).
    - CVE-2026-42789: `public_key` application accepts non-CA certificates as intermediate issuers and this     enables chain       forgery (bsc#1266449).
    - CVE-2026-42790: Name constraints and `Subject CommonName` fallback in TLS hostname verification allows     for certificate       forgery by MITM attacker (bsc#1266466).
    - CVE-2026-42792: permanent `epmd` DoS via connection slot exhaustion due to improper handling of     exceptional       conditions (bsc#1272908).
    - CVE-2026-47078: relative path traversal in `zip:unzip/zip:extract` via `check_dir_level` depth-counter     bypass       (bsc#1272909).
    - CVE-2026-48855: SFTP `READLINK` response leaks absolute backend filesystem path when root is configured     (bsc#1268139).
    - CVE-2026-48856: `httpc` leaks `Authorization` headers to cross-origin redirect targets (bsc#1268141).
    - CVE-2026-48858: server-side request forgery allows FTP bounce attacks and SSRF via an unvalidated `PASV`     response IP       address (bsc#1268142).
    - CVE-2026-48860: `ssl` (`inet_tls_dist` module) allows unauthenticated bypass of the distribution-over-     TLS LAN       allowlist (bsc#1268146).
    - CVE-2026-49759: unbounded stack buffer overflow in SCTP error cause parsing in `inet_drv` (bsc#1268163).
    - CVE-2026-49760: stack buffer overflow in `ei_s_print_term` at very large integer (bsc#1268164).
    - CVE-2026-53422: SFTP `REALPATH` path-existence oracle allows filesystem enumeration outside configured     root       (bsc#1270245).
    - CVE-2026-54886: SSH SFTP server denial of service via extended channel data infinite loop (bsc#1270246).
    - CVE-2026-54887: use of default cryptographic key allows predictable DTLS cookie computation during the     startup window       (bsc#1270247).
    - CVE-2026-54891: plaintext injection towards (D)TLS client during handshake (bsc#1270250).
    - CVE-2026-55737: heap pointer corruption via signed/unsigned mismatch in `LARGE_TUPLE_EXTP` decoding in     `erts`       external term format decoder (bsc#1272910).
    - CVE-2026-55950: time-of-check time-of-use race condition allows an unauthenticated remote attacker to     crash all active       DTLS sessions on a listener (bsc#1270253).
    - CVE-2026-55952: missing validation allows for DoS of the TLS-1.3 server when clients send a malformed     `ClientHello`       with mismatched PSK identity and binder list lengths (bsc#1270258).
    - CVE-2026-55953: TLS 1.2 and DTLS clients accept unoffered anonymous cipher suites and allow for server     authentication       bypass (bsc#1272911).
    - CVE-2026-58227: TLS/DTLS denial of service via unbounded recursion on cross-signed peer certificate     chain       (bsc#1272913).
    - CVE-2026-59250: `megaco` flex scanner buffer overflow via oversized property parm name (bsc#1272914).
    - CVE-2026-59251: denial of service via exponential certificate policy tree growth in path validation     (bsc#1272915).

Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the SUSE security advisory.

Note that Nessus has not tested for these issues but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

The Linux/Unix host has one or more packages installed that are impacted by a vulnerability without a vendor supplied patch available.

  - 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. (CVE-2026-42792)

Note that Nessus relies on the presence of the package as reported by the vendor.

The version of FreeBSD installed on the remote host is prior to tested version. It is, therefore, affected by a vulnerability as referenced in the 445e3324-89e1-11f1-b35c-4c526214c986 advisory.

    The Erlang/OTP team reports:
    Mitigated a denial of service attack in epmd.

Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the FreeBSD security advisory.

Note that Nessus has not tested for this issue but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

ID	Name	Product	Family	Type	Severity
350965	Ubuntu 14.04 LTS / 16.04 LTS / 18.04 LTS / 20.04 LTS / 22.04 LTS / 24.04 LTS / 26.04 LTS : Erlang vulnerabilities (USN-8827-1)	Nessus	Ubuntu Local Security Checks	Local	critical
339216	Debian dsa-6464 : erlang - security update	Nessus	Debian Local Security Checks	Local	critical
338673	Photon OS 5.0: Erlang PHSA-2026-5.0-92-0958	Nessus	PhotonOS Local Security Checks	Local	critical
338632	SUSE SLES15 Security Update : erlang (SUSE-SU-2026:3645-1)	Nessus	SuSE Local Security Checks	Local	critical
335097	SUSE SLES15 Security Update : erlang26 (SUSE-SU-2026:3579-1)	Nessus	SuSE Local Security Checks	Local	critical
330377	Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2026-42792	Nessus	Misc.	Local	medium
330267	FreeBSD : Erlang/OTP -- denial of service in epmd (445e3324-89e1-11f1-b35c-4c526214c986)	Nessus	FreeBSD Local Security Checks	Local	medium

Detections

Analytics

CVE-2026-42792

medium

Tenable Plugins

critical

critical

critical

critical

critical

medium

medium