CVE-2026-105274: low-severity vulnerability in hexpm hex
hex_core decompresses registry and Erlang term API responses without size limits
Published · Updated
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8Vexday Risk Score
No sign of exploitation. No public exploitation artifact known so far.
ssvc Trackcvss 2.1epss 0.4%
Improper Handling of Highly Compressed Data (Data Amplification) vulnerability in hexpm hex_core allows an untrusted repository mirror, or a server answering hex_core's API requests, to exhaust the memory of the Erlang VM running hex_core. The same code is vendored in Hex (mix_hex_repo, mix_hex_api) and rebar3 (r3_hex_repo, r3_hex_api).
hex_repo:get_names/1, hex_repo:get_versions/1, hex_repo:get_package/2 and hex_repo:get_policy/2 decompress the registry response with zlib:gunzip/1 and decode the signed envelope before verifying its signature. A mirror doesn't have the repository's private key, but it chooses the compressed bytes, so a small response decompresses into an envelope of any size before the signature check rejects it.
hex_api decodes responses with the application/vnd.hex+erlang content type through hex_safe_binary_to_term:safe_binary_to_term/1, which calls binary_to_term(Binary, [safe]). The safe option prevents atom creation, but it accepts compressed terms and doesn't limit the size of the decoded term, and the check that rejects functions and ports runs after the term has been built. The fix for CVE-2026-21619 added the safe option and that check without bounding the decoded size.
This issue affects rebar3: from 3.9.1 before 3.27.3; hex: from 2.1.0 before 2.5.2; hex_core: from 0.1.0 before 0.20.0.
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:A/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
Related CVEs — hexpm hex
In the same product, most dangerous first.
CVE-2026-21619LOWUnsafe Deserialization of Erlang Terms in hex_coreEPSS 0.6%CVE-2026-103060HIGHPath traversal in rebar3 via unvalidated dependency app namesEPSS 0.5%CVE-2026-96612HIGHPath traversal in Hex via unvalidated dependency app namesEPSS 0.4%CVE-2026-81856LOWTerminal escape sequence injection in Hex via unneutralized server-supplied outputEPSS 0.4%CVE-2026-105668HIGHHex release-age cooldown is lifted package-wide when the locked release is retiredEPSS 0.4%CVE-2026-96618LOWHex exhausts memory and disk on oversized or compressed responses from an untrusted mirrorEPSS 0.4%
References
https://cna.erlef.org/cves/CVE-2026-105274.htmlhttps://github.com/erlang/rebar3/commit/209c02ec57c2cc3207ee0174c3af3675b8dc8f79https://github.com/erlang/rebar3/commit/360838a22f5b3a88c0358207f2923059bcbb3afbhttps://github.com/hexpm/hex/commit/671f695ac548ed01f5828c2a739ecaa942b21007https://github.com/hexpm/hex/commit/d8b60eee97abb119d525306f048969a217d793a5https://github.com/hexpm/hex_core/commit/ebe25d110717f6a3addba5232cd4a7dc1c76b628https://github.com/hexpm/hex_core/commit/fbb6d9de472e5edb8d6fb6b32a91cb266137892ehttps://github.com/hexpm/hex_core/security/advisories/GHSA-7c4r-cgf9-9jmqhttps://osv.dev/vulnerability/EEF-CVE-2026-105274