BEAM VM crash via unchecked atom creation
Published Apr 2, 2026 · Updated Apr 2, 2026
Resource exhaustion in Ash before 3.22.0 allows remote attackers to crash the BEAM VM through a module-typed API input. Ash.Type.Module.cast_input/2 passes each attacker-controlled Elixir-prefixed string to Module.concat before checking module existence, permanently allocating a new atom. Reachability requires an application to expose a :module-typed resource attribute or argument; filling the finite atom table terminates the entire VM process and interrupts every resource it serves.
Summary
What happened
Resource exhaustion in Ash before 3.22.0 allows remote attackers to crash the BEAM VM through a module-typed API input. Ash.Type.Module.cast_input/2 passes each attacker-controlled Elixir-prefixed string to Module.concat before checking module existence, permanently allocating a new atom. Reachability requires an application to expose a :module-typed resource attribute or argument; filling the finite atom table terminates the entire VM process and interrupts every resource it serves.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-34593
- Published
- Apr 2, 2026
- Updated
- Apr 2, 2026
- Vendor
- Ash Framework
- Product
- Ash
- Classifications
- CWE-770, CWE-400, T1499.004
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- unauthenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Apr 2, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Apr 2, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=< 3.22.0
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
- GHSA-jjf9-w5vj-r6vp atom-exhaustion procedureproof of concept · demonstrated
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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