CVE-2026-115274
Unbounded integer parsing in JSON.decode/1 enables CPU and memory exhaustion denial of service in Elixir
- State
- Published
- Severity
- 6.9 Medium
- Published
- Oct 30, 2026
- Updated
- Oct 30, 2026
- Reserved
- Oct 23, 2026
Description
Improper Validation of Specified Quantity in Input vulnerability in the Elixir standard library's JSON module allows an unauthenticated attacker who supplies a JSON document to cause a denial of service through CPU and memory exhaustion.
JSON.decode/1 and JSON.decode!/1 convert each integer literal with erlang:binary_to_integer/1 and do not bound its length. A literal of one million digits decodes successfully but costs 100 to 300 times as much CPU as a string of the same length, so one request body of a few megabytes holds a scheduler for about a second. A literal of more than about 1.29 million digits raises SystemLimitError. Applications generated by phx.new decode request bodies with JSON in Plug.Parsers, before routing and authentication.
This issue affects elixir: from 1.18.0-rc.0 before 1.18.6, from 1.19.0-rc.0 before 1.19.7, and from 1.20.0-rc.0 before 1.20.5.
Scores
| CVSS | Score | Vector | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4.0 | 6.9 Medium | CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N | EEF |
Weaknesses
- CWE-1284 Improper Validation of Specified Quantity in Input
Affected Products
| Product | Versions |
|---|---|
elixirelixir-lang |
|
elixirelixir-lang |
|
References
- Unbounded integer parsing in JSON.decode/1 enables CPU and memory exhaustion denial of service in Elixirvendor-advisoryrelated
- EEF CNA record for CVE-2026-115274related
- OSV record EEF-CVE-2026-115274related
- Introducing commit 793c114 in elixir-lang/elixirrelated
- Fix commit c81f122 in elixir-lang/elixirpatch
- Fix commit 7154e87 in elixir-lang/elixirpatch
- Fix commit cd158ef in elixir-lang/elixirpatch
- Fix commit ee5cc23 in elixir-lang/elixirpatch
Every record here comes from the CVE Program’s CVE List. © 1999–2026 The MITRE Corporation. CVE is a registered trademark of The MITRE Corporation. The records are reproduced under the CVE Program terms of use.