CVE-2026-42792Network attack vector

Daemon termination via connection slot exhaustion

Published Jul 27, 2026 · Updated Jul 27, 2026

Resource exhaustion in affected Erlang/OTP releases allows remote attackers to terminate epmd through held TCP connections. The do_accept function in erts/epmd/src/epmd_srv.c calls epmd_cleanup_exit when accept returns EMFILE or ENFILE instead of treating descriptor exhaustion as recoverable. Network access to epmd is required; one source can hold enough connections open, and Debian or Ubuntu systemd defaults can turn repeated exits into outages requiring manual recovery.

CVSS severity6.3
Medium
EPSS probability0.43%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Resource exhaustion in affected Erlang/OTP releases allows remote attackers to terminate epmd through held TCP connections. The do_accept function in erts/epmd/src/epmd_srv.c calls epmd_cleanup_exit when accept returns EMFILE or ENFILE instead of treating descriptor exhaustion as recoverable. Network access to epmd is required; one source can hold enough connections open, and Debian or Ubuntu systemd defaults can turn repeated exits into outages requiring manual recovery.

The record

CVE
CVE-2026-42792
Published
Jul 27, 2026
Updated
Jul 27, 2026
Vendor
Erlang
Product
Erlang/OTP
Classifications
CWE-755, CWE-770, T1499.004
Attack vector
network
Privileges
unauthenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Jul 27, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Jul 27, 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.

  1. Affected versionversion=07b8f441ca711f9812fad9e9115bab3c3aa92f79 <865d203e4a6a8f44179eced9e1428f9259e4a3bb
  2. Affected versionversion=17.0 <* changes=[{"at":"29.0.4","status":"unaffected"},{"at":"28.5.0.4","status":"unaffected"},{"at":"27.3.4.15","status":"unaffected"}]
  3. Affected versionversion=6.0 <* changes=[{"at":"17.0.4","status":"unaffected"},{"at":"16.4.0.4","status":"unaffected"},{"at":"15.2.7.11","status":"unaffected"}]

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectornetwork
Required privilegesunauthenticated

What is affected?

Erlang · Erlang/OTPversion=07b8f441ca711f9812fad9e9115bab3c3aa92f79 <865d203e4a6a8f44179eced9e1428f9259e4a3bb; version=17.0 <* changes=[{"at":"29.0.4","status":"unaffected"},{"at":"28.5.0.4","status":"unaffected"},{"at":"27.3.4.15","status":"unaffected"}]; version=6.0 <* changes=[{"at":"17.0.4","status":"unaffected"},{"at":"16.4.0.4","status":"unaffected"},{"at":"15.2.7.11","status":"unaffected"}]

Published CVSS scores

6.3Erlang Ecosystem FoundationCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
7.5NIST NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

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.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectornetwork
Privilegesunauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-755Improper Handling of Exceptional Conditions
CWE-770Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling
T1499.004Application or System Exploitation

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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