CVE-2026-48853
Remote code execution and denial of service via unsafe Erlang term deserialization in elixir-grpc/grpc
Description
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.
CVSS Vector Breakdown
AV:NAccess VectorAC:LAccess ComplexityC:HConfidentialityI:HIntegrityA:HAvailabilityWeaknesses
Affected Products
Attack Graph
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Exploitability
MITRE ATT&CK
4 techniquesReferences
Timeline
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