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CVE-2026-65634: CWE-407 Inefficient Algorithmic Complexity in Erlang OTP

0
High
VulnerabilityCVE-2026-65634cvecve-2026-65634cwe-407
Published: 09/22/2026 (09/22/2026, 08:49:24 UTC)
Source: CVE Database V5
Vendor/Project: Erlang
Product: OTP

Description

Inefficient algorithmic complexity in the Erlang/OTP asn1 OBJECT IDENTIFIER decoder allows a remote unauthenticated attacker to cause denial of service by sending a crafted OID during the TLS handshake. The BER OID decoder asn1rtt_ber:dec_subidentifiers/3 in lib/asn1/src/asn1rtt_ber.erl and the equivalent PER helper asn1rtt_per_common:dec_subidentifiers/3 in lib/asn1/src/asn1rtt_per_common.erl accumulate a base-128 subidentifier into an unbounded integer using (Av bsl 7) + H per continuation byte. Each shift and addition on the growing accumulator is linear in the number of bits already accumulated, giving quadratic total work in the size of a single subidentifier. The JER helper asn1rtt_jer:json2oid/1 in lib/asn1/src/asn1rtt_jer.erl exhibits the same class of unbounded-integer parsing when decoding a dot-separated OID from JSON. A DER-encoded OBJECT IDENTIFIER with one very large arc (approximately 262 KB of continuation bytes) consumes roughly 13 seconds of CPU on typical hardware. The vulnerable decoder is generated into every ASN.1 module that contains an OBJECT IDENTIFIER, including OTP-PUB-KEY which is reached during X.509 certificate parsing via public_key:pkix_decode_cert/2. This decoder runs before any signature or trust chain verification, so any Erlang service that parses peer TLS certificates is exposed: the default for TLS clients (which always parse the server certificate) and for mutual-TLS servers (which parse client certificates). This vulnerability is associated with program files lib/asn1/src/asn1rtt_ber.erl, lib/asn1/src/asn1rtt_per_common.erl and lib/asn1/src/asn1rtt_jer.erl and program routines asn1rtt_ber:dec_subidentifiers/3, asn1rtt_per_common:dec_subidentifiers/3 and asn1rtt_jer:json2oid/1. This issue affects OTP from OTP 17.0 before OTP 27.3.4.18, OTP 28.5.0.7, and OTP 29.1.1, corresponding to asn1 from 3.0 before 5.3.4.3, 5.4.3.1, and 5.5.2. Whether OTP before OTP 17.0, corresponding to asn1 before 3.0, is affected is unknown.

CVSS v4.0

Score 8.2high

Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
Low
Attack Requirements
Present
Privileges Required
None
User Interaction
None
Vuln. Confidentiality
None
Vuln. Integrity
None
Vuln. Availability
High
Subsq. Confidentiality
None
Subsq. Integrity
None
Subsq. Availability
None
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

Affected software

Erlang

OTP

Affected versions
>=17.0 <27.3.4.18

Erlang

OTP

Affected versions
>=3.0 <5.3.4.3

Erlang

OTP

GitHub Actionsmore threats →cve
asn1
pkg:github/asn1
Affected versions
>=3.0 <5.3.4.3
GitHub Actionsmore threats →cve
erlang/otp
pkg:github/erlang/otp
CPE configurations
cpe:2.3:a:erlang:erlang\/otp:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

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AI-Powered Analysis

Machine-generated threat intelligence

AILast updated: 09/22/2026, 09:17:50 UTC

Technical Analysis

The vulnerability involves inefficient algorithmic complexity in the ASN.1 OBJECT IDENTIFIER decoder within Erlang/OTP, specifically in the BER, PER, and JER decoding routines (asn1rtt_ber:dec_subidentifiers/3, asn1rtt_per_common:dec_subidentifiers/3, and asn1rtt_jer:json2oid/1). These functions accumulate base-128 subidentifiers into unbounded integers using operations that have quadratic time complexity relative to the size of the subidentifier. An attacker can exploit this by sending a DER-encoded OBJECT IDENTIFIER with an extremely large arc (approximately 262 KB), causing the decoder to consume excessive CPU time (about 13 seconds on typical hardware) during TLS certificate parsing before any signature or trust verification occurs. This affects Erlang OTP versions >=17.0 <27.3.4.18 and ASN.1 library versions >=3.0 <5.3.4.3. The vulnerability exposes any Erlang service that parses peer TLS certificates to denial of service.

Potential Impact

A remote unauthenticated attacker can cause a denial of service by sending a crafted OBJECT IDENTIFIER during the TLS handshake, leading to excessive CPU consumption and service disruption. The vulnerability affects Erlang services that parse TLS certificates, including TLS clients and mutual-TLS servers, potentially impacting availability.

Mitigation Recommendations

Patch status is not yet confirmed — check the vendor advisory for current remediation guidance. Until an official fix is available, consider limiting exposure to untrusted TLS peers or implementing rate limiting on TLS handshake attempts to mitigate potential denial of service. Monitor vendor communications for updates on patches or official fixes.

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Technical Details

Data Version
5.2
Assigner Short Name
EEF
Date Reserved
2026-07-22T13:58:26.233Z
Cvss Version
4.0
State
PUBLISHED

Threat ID: 6ab24461f7a7c54106f3e60b

Added to database: 09/22/2026, 09:03:29 UTC

Last enriched: 09/22/2026, 09:17:50 UTC

Last updated: 09/23/2026, 01:58:07 UTC

Views: 18

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