Erlang/OTP is a widely used runtime (used by RabbitMQ, CouchDB, telecoms). A VM-level abort can disrupt many services and infrastructure across organizations.
CVE-2026-54890
Erlang/OTP ETF decoder integer underflow causes VM abort (node crash/DoS)
Is CVE-2026-54890 being exploited?
Not confirmed. CVE-2026-54890 does not appear in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, which records only exploitation that has been observed and reported publicly. That is evidence of absence of a report, not evidence the flaw is unattacked. EPSS currently estimates a 0.42% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.
How severe is CVE-2026-54890?
CVE-2026-54890 is rated High with a CVSS score of 8.2. Severity describes how bad exploitation would be, not how likely it is: pair it with exploitation evidence before deciding what to patch first.
Is there a patch for CVE-2026-54890?
Yes. A fix has been recorded for CVE-2026-54890. The vendor advisory is the authority on the exact fixed version — apply it from there rather than from a summary.
What does CVE-2026-54890 affect?
CVE-2026-54890 affects Erlang/OTP 27.x/28.x/29.x (pre-fixed releases), ERTS runtimes affected prior to 17.0.4 / 16.4.0.4 / 15.2.7.11, Any app calling binary_to_term()/enif_binary_to_term(), Distributed Erlang endpoints and services (e.g., RabbitMQ, CouchDB). Confirm the exact affected versions against the vendor advisory before deciding you are exposed.
What should I do about CVE-2026-54890?
Upgrade Erlang/OTP to fixed releases (27.3.4.15 / 28.5.0.4 / 29.0.4); block/validate untrusted ETF inputs.
Exploitation status reflects CISA's KEV catalog as we last synced it. Check the catalog directly.
Crafted ETF input triggers unsigned underflow and huge allocation, aborting the Erlang VM and causing remote denial-of-service of nodes/services.
Immediate action required
- affected>= 15.0 and < *
- affected>= 27.0 and < *
- affected>= 24ef4cbaeda9b9c26682cba75f2f15b0c58722aa and < dc1bf9344c0ce62717cf60866590cea0242780fd
As published in the CVE Program record. A version outside these ranges is not a statement that it is unaffected — vendors sometimes understate a range, and distribution-backported builds carry upstream numbers that do not reflect what was patched into them.