Remote code execution and denial of service via unsafe Erlang term deserialization in elixir-grpc/grpc
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.
CVE-2026-48853
Primary source · Revision 1
Imported from structured advisory data. Source references identify upstream records or fields; verify affected versions and your deployed configuration.
Security context
Source reference: cve:CVE-2026-48853
grpc
Source reference: /containers/cna/affected/0/product
- Affected versions
- Not stated in this record
- Fixed versions
- Not stated in this record
- Prerequisites
- Not stated in this record
grpc
Source reference: /containers/cna/affected/1/product
- Affected versions
- Not stated in this record
- Fixed versions
- Not stated in this record
- Prerequisites
- Not stated in this record
Structured affected-version data
Original package identities and version rules from this source.
[
{
"cpes": [
"cpe:2.3:a:elixir-grpc:grpc:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*"
],
"repo": "https://github.com/elixir-grpc/grpc",
"vendor": "elixir-grpc",
"modules": [
"'Elixir.GRPC.Codec.Erlpack'"
],
"product": "grpc",
"versions": [
{
"status": "affected",
"version": "0.4.0",
"lessThan": "1.0.0",
"versionType": "semver"
}
],
"packageURL": "pkg:hex/grpc",
"packageName": "grpc",
"programFiles": [
"lib/grpc/codec/erlpack.ex"
],
"collectionURL": "https://repo.hex.pm",
"defaultStatus": "unaffected",
"programRoutines": [
{
"name": "'Elixir.GRPC.Codec.Erlpack':decode/2"
}
]
},
{
"cpes": [
"cpe:2.3:a:elixir-grpc:grpc:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*"
],
"repo": "https://github.com/elixir-grpc/grpc",
"vendor": "elixir-grpc",
"modules": [
"'Elixir.GRPC.Codec.Erlpack'"
],
"product": "grpc",
"versions": [
{
"status": "affected",
"version": "25bcc569fe2cc4478531a6c546c923205fc751c9",
"lessThan": "272a97a5ea1b46af1819f14a831fcf35fc91f992",
"versionType": "git"
}
],
"packageURL": "pkg:github/elixir-grpc/grpc",
"packageName": "elixir-grpc/grpc",
"programFiles": [
"lib/grpc/codec/erlpack.ex"
],
"collectionURL": "https://github.com",
"defaultStatus": "unaffected",
"programRoutines": [
{
"name": "'Elixir.GRPC.Codec.Erlpack':decode/2"
}
]
}
]- Related CVEs
- CVE-2026-48853
Source reference:
/cveMetadata/cveId
Publisher severity
critical
Source reference: /containers/cna/metrics
- Event
- #1933 · Revision 1
- Added to Heist Feed
- Publisher date