CVE-2026-81319: CWE-502 Deserialization of Untrusted Data in ash-project ash_cloak
Description
Deserialization of Untrusted Data vulnerability in ash-project ash_cloak allows an attacker who can influence the bytes of an encrypted column to crash the BEAM node, by triggering unbounded atom creation or a decompression bomb during decryption. AshCloak.Calculations.Decrypt decodes the decrypted binary with Ash.Helpers.non_executable_binary_to_term/1 without the :safe option, so atoms in the payload are interned during the decode and never garbage collected, and the term format's compressed form is inflated transparently. vault.decrypt!() is the only barrier and stops tampering only for an authenticated cipher. Cloak also ships the unauthenticated AES.CTR, whose ciphertext an attacker who knows their own plaintext can XOR into any same-length payload without the key, so an ordinary read of the forged column reaches the decoder. A few hundred kilobytes of distinct atoms exhausts the atom table, or a small compressed payload inflates to gigabytes. This issue affects ash_cloak: from 0.1.0 before 0.4.0.
CVSS v4.0
Score 5.9medium
Affected software
ash-project
ash_cloak
ash-project
ash_cloak
cpe:2.3:a:ash-project:ash_cloak:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*Run on your own infrastructure? Check whether these packages are installed with threat-finder — our free open-source scanner.
Weaknesses
AI-Powered Analysis
Machine-generated threat intelligence
Technical Analysis
The vulnerability in ash_cloak involves unsafe deserialization in the AshCloak.Calculations.Decrypt function, which uses Ash.Helpers.non_executable_binary_to_term/1 without the :safe option. This causes atoms in the payload to be interned permanently, leading to potential exhaustion of the atom table. Additionally, the decompression of compressed term formats can be exploited as a decompression bomb, inflating memory usage to gigabytes. The unauthenticated AES.CTR mode shipped with Cloak allows attackers who know their plaintext to XOR ciphertext and tamper with encrypted columns, enabling the attack. Versions affected are from 0.1.0 before 0.4.0.
Potential Impact
An attacker with the ability to influence encrypted column bytes can cause denial of service by crashing the BEAM node through atom table exhaustion or excessive memory consumption due to decompression bombs. This can disrupt application availability. There is no indication of code execution or data disclosure beyond denial of service.
Mitigation Recommendations
Patch status is not yet confirmed — check the vendor advisory for current remediation guidance. Until a fix is available, avoid using unauthenticated AES.CTR mode and do not process untrusted encrypted data with ash_cloak versions prior to 0.4.0. Monitor vendor channels for updates and apply official patches once released.
Technical Details
- Data Version
- 5.2
- Assigner Short Name
- EEF
- Date Reserved
- 2026-08-30T05:45:01.821Z
- Cvss Version
- 4.0
- State
- PUBLISHED
Threat ID: 6a947173acd9273b49d99f4c
Added to database: 08/30/2026, 18:07:47 UTC
Last enriched: 09/07/2026, 15:07:35 UTC
Last updated: 10/13/2026, 18:48:24 UTC
Views: 103
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