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FreeBSD : Erlang/OTP -- binary_to_term crash on crafted BIT_BINARY_EXT input (445dc6b9-89e1-11f1-b35c-4c526214c986)

high Nessus Plugin ID 330273

Synopsis

The remote FreeBSD host is missing one or more security-related updates.

Description

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 445dc6b9-89e1-11f1-b35c-4c526214c986 advisory.

 https://github.com/erlang/otp/security/advisories/GHSA-54pw-5645-jh86 reports:
 A specially crafted External Term Format (ETF) payload of merely 7 bytes triggers a crash in the BEAM virtual machine when processed by binary_to_term/1,2. The BIT_BINARY_EXT tag with specific parameters causes an unsigned integer underflow during bitstring size calculation, resulting in an enormous memory allocation attempt that immediately terminates the VM.
 This is a full system crash, not a recoverable process exception: Erlang supervision mechanisms, the [safe] option and standard error handling cannot prevent it.

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.

Solution

Update the affected packages.

See Also

https://github.com/erlang/otp/security/advisories/GHSA-54pw-5645-jh86

http://www.nessus.org/u?79cb8015

Plugin Details

Severity: High

ID: 330273

File Name: freebsd_pkg_445dc6b989e111f1b35c4c526214c986.nasl

Version: 1.1

Type: Local

Published: 7/28/2026

Updated: 7/28/2026

Supported Sensors: Nessus

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Low

Score: 3

Percentile: 23.72

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 5

Temporal Score: 3.7

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

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2026-54890

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: High

Base Score: 7.5

Temporal Score: 6.5

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

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

CVSS v4

Risk Factor: High

Base Score: 8.2

Threat Score: 4.6

Threat Vector: CVSS:4.0/E:U

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

Vulnerability Information

CPE: cpe:/o:freebsd:freebsd, p-cpe:/a:freebsd:freebsd:erlang-runtime27, p-cpe:/a:freebsd:freebsd:erlang-runtime28, p-cpe:/a:freebsd:freebsd:erlang-runtime29, p-cpe:/a:freebsd:freebsd:erlang

Required KB Items: Host/local_checks_enabled, Host/FreeBSD/release, Host/FreeBSD/pkg_info

Exploit Ease: No known exploits are available

Patch Publication Date: 7/27/2026

Vulnerability Publication Date: 7/27/2026

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2026-54890