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CVE-2026-54886: CWE-835 Loop with Unreachable Exit Condition ('Infinite Loop') in Erlang OTP

0
Medium
VulnerabilityCVE-2026-54886cvecve-2026-54886cwe-835cwe-400
Published: 07/02/2026 (07/02/2026, 16:06:20 UTC)
Source: CVE Database V5
Vendor/Project: Erlang
Product: OTP

Description

Loop with Unreachable Exit Condition ('Infinite Loop') vulnerability in Erlang OTP ssh (ssh_sftpd module) allows an authenticated SFTP user to render an SFTP channel permanently unresponsive. The handle_data/4 function in ssh_sftpd contains a catch-all clause that accepts channel data of any type. When channel data with a non-zero type code (SSH_MSG_CHANNEL_EXTENDED_DATA) arrives with an empty pending buffer and a payload at or below the SFTP packet size limit, the clause tail-calls itself with identical arguments, creating an infinite loop. The SFTP protocol operates exclusively on normal channel data (type 0). Extended data (non-zero type) is meaningless for SFTP and is never sent by conforming clients. However, the SSH protocol permits any channel participant to send extended data on an open channel, so an authenticated SFTP client can trigger the loop by sending SSH_MSG_CHANNEL_EXTENDED_DATA with any data_type_code and any non-empty payload at or below the size limit. The targeted ssh_sftpd process enters an infinite tail-recursive loop. It never processes another message, its message queue grows without bound, and it can only be stopped by killing the process. BEAM's reduction-based scheduler preemption continues to function, so other processes on the node are not starved, but each stuck channel process consumes its full CPU time share continuously and accumulates unbounded message queue memory. Opening many channels amplifies the CPU and memory impact. Erlang/OTP SSH configurations using the default max_channels setting (infinity) allow an authenticated user to open unlimited channels per connection, amplifying the attack without requiring multiple TCP connections or authentications. No file contents, credentials, or write access are obtainable through this issue. The impact is limited to denial of service on targeted SFTP channels, with secondary CPU degradation and memory growth. This vulnerability is associated with program file lib/ssh/src/ssh_sftpd.erl and program routine ssh_sftpd:handle_data/4. This issue affects OTP from OTP 17.0 until OTP 29.0.3, 28.5.0.3, and 27.3.4.14 corresponding to ssh from 3.0.1 until 6.0.2, 5.5.2.2, and 5.2.11.9.

CVSS v4.0

Score 5.3medium

Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
Low
Attack Requirements
None
Privileges Required
Low
User Interaction
None
Vuln. Confidentiality
None
Vuln. Integrity
None
Vuln. Availability
Low
Subsq. Confidentiality
None
Subsq. Integrity
None
Subsq. Availability
None
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

Affected software

GitHub Actionsmore threats →cve
ssh
pkg:github/ssh
Affected versions
=3.0.1
GitHub Actionsmore threats →cve
erlang/otp
pkg:github/erlang/otp
Affected versions
=17.0
CPE configurations
cpe:2.3:a:erlang:erlang\/otp:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

Run on your own infrastructure? Check whether these packages are installed with threat-finder — our free open-source scanner.

Technical Details

Data Version
5.2
Assigner Short Name
EEF
Date Reserved
2026-06-16T10:47:13.914Z
Cvss Version
4.0
State
PUBLISHED
Remediation Level
null

Threat ID: 6a46a8b827e9c79719cc4aae

Added to database: 07/02/2026, 18:06:48 UTC

Last updated: 07/02/2026, 18:06:48 UTC

Views: 1

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