Erlang/OTP 17.0 < 26.2.5.21 / 27.0 < 27.3.4.12 / 28.0 < 28.5.0.1 / 29.0 < 29.0.1 Certificate Chain Forgery (CVE-2026-42789)

high Nessus Plugin ID 317739

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Synopsis

The remote host is missing a security update.

Description

The version of Erlang/OTP installed on the remote host is 17.0 prior to 26.2.5.21, 27.0 prior to 27.3.4.12, 28.0 prior to 28.5.0.1, or 29.0 prior to 29.0.1. It is, therefore, affected by a vulnerability:

- Improper Following of a Certificate's Chain of Trust vulnerability in Erlang OTP public_key (pubkey_cert module) allows a non-CA certificate to be accepted as an intermediate issuer, enabling certificate chain forgery. (CVE-2026-42789)

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

Solution

Upgrade to Erlang/OTP version 26.2.5.21, 27.3.4.12, 28.5.0.1, or 29.0.1 or later.

Plugin Details

Severity: High

ID: 317739

File Name: erlang_otp_CVE-2026-42789.nasl

Version: 1.2

Type: Local

Agent: windows, macosx, unix

Family: Misc.

Published: 5/29/2026

Updated: 6/1/2026

Configuration: Enable thorough checks (optional)

Supported Sensors: Nessus Agent, Nessus

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Medium

Score: 6.0

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 5.8

Temporal Score: 4.3

Vector: CVSS2#AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:N

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2026-42789

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: Critical

Base Score: 9.1

Temporal Score: 7.9

Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N

Temporal Vector: CVSS:3.0/E:U/RL:O/RC:C

CVSS v4

Risk Factor: High

Base Score: 7

Threat Score: 2.7

Threat Vector: CVSS:4.0/E:U

Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:L/VI:L/VA:N/SC:H/SI:H/SA:N

Vulnerability Information

CPE: cpe:/a:erlang:erlang%2fotp

Required KB Items: installed_sw/Erlang-OTP

Exploit Ease: No known exploits are available

Patch Publication Date: 5/27/2026

Vulnerability Publication Date: 5/27/2026

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2026-42789

IAVA: 2026-A-0522

Detections

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