CVE-2026-54451Elixir protobuf: Unbounded recursion depth in embedded-message decoding
- 8.2HighCVSS base score
- 0.52%Exploitation in 30 daysEPSS · top 55% of all CVEs
- NoKnown exploitednot in CISA's KEV catalog
- YesPublic exploitsa reference or SSVC says so
Description
Elixir protobuf is a pure Elixir implementation of Google Protobuf. From 0.8.0 until 0.16.1, services that decode attacker-controlled protobuf bytes with Protobuf.Decoder can be taken offline when the schema contains a self-referential or cyclic message type. In lib/protobuf/decoder.ex, Protobuf.Decoder.value_for_field/3 handles an embedded?: true field by recursively entering the decode / build_message / handle_value / value_for_field call chain without enforcing a nesting-depth limit. Deeply nested embedded fields retain non-tail recursive frames, allowing a comparatively small request to consume substantial CPU and memory, pin a BEAM scheduler, and exhaust the node. This issue is fixed in version 0.16.1.
Public exploit
An exploit or proof of concept is public: anyone can try it against an unpatched system. A reference of the record is tagged as an exploit. CISA's SSVC rates its exploitation: a proof of concept is public.
Show the exploits1
References tagged exploit1 reference
- https://github.com/elixir-protobuf/protobuf/security/advisories/GHSA-rv48-qqj5-crxg (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMexploit
Timeline
ID reserved
By GitHub_M
- 3 months later
· 3 months later
Published
- 4 days later
· 4 days later
Record updated
Changes after publication (a new score, a public exploit, EPSS crossing 1, 10 or 50 %, leaving KEV) are kept since November 2026; earlier ones are not known.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| GitHub_MCNA (assigner) | 4.0 | High8.2 | CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N |
| NVDNVD · Awaiting Analysis | 4.0 | High8.2 | CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 0.52% · top 55% of all CVEs (14 Nov 2026)
- CISA SSVC
- Exploitation: poc · Automatable: yes · Technical impact: partial
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: High 8.2.
Affected products
- affected >= 0.8.0, < 0.16.1
Affected packages
From reviewed advisories of the GitHub Advisory Database.
- HexprotobufGHSA-rv48-qqj5-crxg (opens in a new tab)
References
References4
- https://github.com/elixir-protobuf/protobuf/security/advisories/GHSA-rv48-qqj5-crxg (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMexploit
- https://github.com/elixir-protobuf/protobuf/commit/352d1769a0ef575a8d18c3f9620609efdb73e2bc (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISC
- https://github.com/elixir-protobuf/protobuf/commit/b8efa97790eece3d2d0e8e7c31a45ed409fe5338 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISC
- https://github.com/elixir-protobuf/protobuf/releases/tag/v0.16.1 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISC
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- EUVD EUVD-2026-82368 (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisory GHSA-rv48-qqj5-crxg (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://cveledger.app/cve/CVE-2026-54451)Record last updated .