CVE-2026-48853
What it is
Deserialization of Untrusted Data and Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling vulnerabilities in elixir-grpc grpc allow unauthenticated attackers to crash the BEAM node via atom table exhaustion and, when a decoded term flows into a call site that invokes it, achieve remote code execution on the server. 'Elixir.GRPC.Codec.Erlpack':decode/2 (lib/grpc/codec/erlpack.ex) calls :erlang.binary_to_term/1 on the raw gRPC message body without the :safe option, no size bound, and no type guard. Any unauthenticated peer that sends a request with Content-Type: application/grpc+erlpack can send a crafted payload that mints arbitrary new atoms (which are never garbage-collected, exhausting the bounded atom table and crashing the VM) or that encodes a fun term which, if applied anywhere downstream, executes attacker-controlled code inside the server process. This issue affects grpc: from 0.4.0 before 1.0.0.
At a glance
- Exploitability
- Can be exploited over the network without logging in. High risk of data exposure, data tampering, service disruption.
- Exploit odds
- 0.8% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days (EPSS).
- Fix
- A patch, advisory or fixed version is referenced. Upgrade or apply it.
Timeline
- PublishedDisclosed publicly on CVE.org and NVD
- Last updatedMost recent change to the record
Details
- Published
- Last modified
- Exploit probability
- 0.8% · EPSS, next 30 days
- Weakness
- CWE-502 · Unsafe deserialization
- Record status
- Deferred
Attack profile CVSS 4.0 · 9.2
- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Attack requirements
- Present
- Privileges needed
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
Raw vector
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X
Fix and advisories
- https://github.com/elixir-grpc/grpc/commit/25bcc569fe2cc4478531a6c546c923205fc751c9
- https://github.com/elixir-grpc/grpc/commit/272a97a5ea1b46af1819f14a831fcf35fc91f992
- https://github.com/elixir-grpc/grpc/security/advisories/GHSA-grp7-v8xh-rj7h
- https://github.com/elixir-grpc/grpc/security/advisories/GHSA-grp7-v8xh-rj7h
References
- https://cna.erlef.org/cves/CVE-2026-48853.html
- https://github.com/elixir-grpc/grpc/commit/25bcc569fe2cc4478531a6c546c923205fc751c9
- https://github.com/elixir-grpc/grpc/commit/272a97a5ea1b46af1819f14a831fcf35fc91f992
- https://github.com/elixir-grpc/grpc/security/advisories/GHSA-grp7-v8xh-rj7h
- https://osv.dev/vulnerability/EEF-CVE-2026-48853
- https://github.com/elixir-grpc/grpc/security/advisories/GHSA-grp7-v8xh-rj7h