Use of Default Cryptographic Key vulnerability in Erlang/OTP ssl (DTLS server) allows predictable DTLS cookie computation during the startup window, enabling source address verification bypass. On DTLS server startup, dtls_server_connection:initial_hello/3 initializes previous_cookie_secret to the empty binary (<<>>) instead of a random value. Because HMAC with an empty key is deterministic, anyone who observes the plaintext ClientHello can compute dtls_handshake:cookie(<<>>, IP, Port, Hello) and forge a valid DTLS cookie before the first rotation of the cookie secret. The DTLS cookie (RFC 6347 §4.2.1) is a denial-of-service mitigation that prevents spoofed source IPs from forcing the server to allocate state and perform expensive cryptographic operations; it is not an authentication mechanism. During the window from server startup until the first secret rotation (0 to 15 seconds), an attacker who can observe the plaintext ClientHello can bypass the source address verification, enabling DTLS handshake amplification with spoofed source addresses. This vulnerability is associated with program file lib/ssl/src/dtls_server_connection.erl and program routine dtls_server_connection:initial_hello/3. This issue affects OTP from OTP 20.0 before OTP 29.0.3, OTP 28.5.0.3 and OTP 27.3.4.14, corresponding to ssl from 8.2 before 11.7.3, 11.6.0.3 and 11.2.12.10.

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.

An update of the erlang package has been released.

The version of Erlang/OTP installed on the remote host is 20.0 prior to 27.3.4.14, 28.0 prior to 28.5.0.3, or 29.0 prior to 29.0.3. It is, therefore, affected by a vulnerability:

  - Use of Default Cryptographic Key vulnerability in Erlang/OTP ssl (DTLS server) allows predictable DTLS     cookie computation during the startup window, enabling source address verification bypass. On DTLS server     startup, dtls_server_connection:initial_hello/3 initializes previous_cookie_secret to the empty binary     instead of a random value. (CVE-2026-54887)

Note that Nessus has not tested for this issue 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.

  - Use of Default Cryptographic Key vulnerability in Erlang/OTP ssl (DTLS server) allows predictable DTLS     cookie computation during the startup window, enabling source address verification bypass. On DTLS server     startup, dtls_server_connection:initial_hello/3 initializes previous_cookie_secret to the empty binary     (<<>>) instead of a random value. Because HMAC with an empty key is deterministic, anyone who observes the     plaintext ClientHello can compute dtls_handshake:cookie(<<>>, IP, Port, Hello) and forge a valid DTLS     cookie before the first rotation of the cookie secret. The DTLS cookie (RFC 6347 4.2.1) is a denial-of-     service mitigation that prevents spoofed source IPs from forcing the server to allocate state and perform     expensive cryptographic operations; it is not an authentication mechanism. During the window from server     startup until the first secret rotation (0 to 15 seconds), an attacker who can observe the plaintext     ClientHello can bypass the source address verification, enabling DTLS handshake amplification with spoofed     source addresses. This vulnerability is associated with program file     lib/ssl/src/dtls_server_connection.erl and program routine dtls_server_connection:initial_hello/3. This     issue affects OTP from OTP 20.0 before OTP 29.0.3, OTP 28.5.0.3 and OTP 27.3.4.14, corresponding to ssl     from 8.2 before 11.7.3, 11.6.0.3 and 11.2.12.10. (CVE-2026-54887)

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

ID	Name	Product	Family	Type	Severity
335097	SUSE SLES15 Security Update : erlang26 (SUSE-SU-2026:3579-1)	Nessus	SuSE Local Security Checks	Local	critical
334778	Photon OS 5.0: Erlang PHSA-2026-5.0-92-0935	Nessus	PhotonOS Local Security Checks	Local	high
325891	Erlang/OTP 20.0 < 27.3.4.14 / 28.0 < 28.5.0.3 / 29.0 < 29.0.3 DTLS Cookie Bypass (CVE-2026-54887)	Nessus	Misc.	Local	medium
324942	Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2026-54887	Nessus	Misc.	Local	medium

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CVE-2026-54887

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