Hex release-age cooldown is lifted package-wide when the locked release is retired
Protection Mechanism Failure vulnerability in hexpm hex allows the owner of a package, or an attacker who has taken over the owner's account, to get a newly published release past the release-age cooldown. The cooldown (cooldown config, HEX_COOLDOWN) withholds versions younger than the configured age during dependency resolution. When the release of a package locked in mix.lock is retired or has a security advisory, Hex.RemoteConverger.build_cooldown_bypass/3 and Hex.RemoteConverger.unsafe_lock_bypass/1 lift the cooldown for every version of that package and of every package the locked release depends on, so that mix deps.update can move off the unsafe release. Retiring a release needs the same package owner permission as publishing one. An attacker who publishes a malicious release can retire the currently locked release, and the next mix deps.update that unlocks the package selects the new release regardless of its age. Hex.Registry.Cooldown.versions/2 checks the bypass by package name alone, so the bypass also covers packages with the same name in other repositories. Cooldown configured through an organization dependency policy is not affected. This issue affects hex: from 2.5.0 before 2.5.2.
CVE-2026-105668
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-2026-105668
hex
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
hex
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:hexpm:hex:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*"
],
"repo": "https://github.com/hexpm/hex",
"vendor": "hexpm",
"modules": [
"'Elixir.Hex.RemoteConverger'",
"'Elixir.Hex.Registry.Cooldown'"
],
"product": "hex",
"versions": [
{
"status": "affected",
"version": "2.5.0",
"lessThan": "2.5.2",
"versionType": "semver"
}
],
"packageURL": "pkg:otp/hex?repository_url=https:%2F%2Fgithub.com%2Fhexpm%2Fhex&vcs_url=repository_url=git%2Bhttps:%2F%2Fgithub.com%2Fhexpm%2Fhex.git",
"packageName": "hex",
"programFiles": [
"lib/hex/remote_converger.ex",
"lib/hex/registry/cooldown.ex"
],
"defaultStatus": "unaffected",
"programRoutines": [
{
"name": "'Elixir.Hex.RemoteConverger':build_cooldown_bypass/3"
},
{
"name": "'Elixir.Hex.RemoteConverger':unsafe_lock_bypass/1"
},
{
"name": "'Elixir.Hex.Registry.Cooldown':versions/2"
}
]
},
{
"cpes": [
"cpe:2.3:a:hexpm:hex:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*"
],
"repo": "https://github.com/hexpm/hex",
"vendor": "hexpm",
"modules": [
"'Elixir.Hex.RemoteConverger'",
"'Elixir.Hex.Registry.Cooldown'"
],
"product": "hex",
"versions": [
{
"status": "affected",
"changes": [
{
"at": "eed2bdf85320ae9e244629511c03f5f3f8c5d0b5",
"status": "unaffected"
},
{
"at": "1b6fddfeadd98ed26a143f60356efade0494e2ae",
"status": "unaffected"
}
],
"version": "b4e665d46be8a5f81e8cbbe4c3a67058a19cf133",
"lessThan": "*",
"versionType": "git"
}
],
"packageURL": "pkg:github/hexpm/hex",
"packageName": "hexpm/hex",
"programFiles": [
"lib/hex/remote_converger.ex",
"lib/hex/registry/cooldown.ex"
],
"collectionURL": "https://github.com",
"defaultStatus": "unaffected",
"programRoutines": [
{
"name": "'Elixir.Hex.RemoteConverger':build_cooldown_bypass/3"
},
{
"name": "'Elixir.Hex.RemoteConverger':unsafe_lock_bypass/1"
},
{
"name": "'Elixir.Hex.Registry.Cooldown':versions/2"
}
]
}
]- Related CVEs
- CVE-2026-105668
Source reference:
/cveMetadata/cveId
Publisher severity
high
Source reference: /containers/cna/metrics
- Event
- #32876 · Revision 1
- Added to Heist Feed
- Publisher date