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Vulnerabilities

Security incident · CVE-2026-59251

Allocation of resources without limits in Erlang/OTP public_key certificate path validation allows a remote unauthenticated attacker to cause denial of service by send…

Published Jul 27, 2026 · catalog updated Nov 11, 2026 · the affected product

Last checked Nov 11, 2026. A connected source was read within the last 7 days.

Check if you run it

No confirmed exploitation is on record for CVE-2026-59251. EPSS is 0.32%. Act only if a listed version of the affected product is installed.

Gaps on this record

  • No plain product name is stored. The page cannot tell you which product to check.
  • No vendor fix or required action is stored. Compare the linked advisory before you change production.

Same product and reporting

Severity
High8.7
Known exploitation
Not in CISA/VulnCheck KEV
EPSS
0.32%
Remediation
Version ranges on file
Affected products
cpe erlang/erlang/otp · cpe erlang/erlang/public key

Allocation of resources without limits in Erlang/OTP public_key certificate path validation allows a remote unauthenticated attacker to cause denial of service by sending a crafted X.509 certificate chain during the TLS handshake. During RFC 5280 policy processing in public_key:pkix_path_validation/3, the certificate policy tree maintained by pubkey_policy_tree grows without an upper bound. When a certificate chain contains M policies per certificate and K certificates, the tree grows on the order of M^K nodes because pubkey_policy_tree:add_leaves/2 and pubkey_policy_tree:add_leaf_siblings/2 extend the tree per policy per certificate. A modest chain with many policies per certificate is enough to pin BEAM schedulers and exhaust the node's memory, taking down the entire VM. The attacker only needs to be able to present a certificate chain to the victim, which is the normal precondition for a TLS handshake, so exploitation succeeds against any incoming or outgoing TLS connection that validates the peer's chain (the default for SSL/TLS clients and mutual-TLS servers). This is the same vulnerability class as OpenSSL's X509_verify_cert policy tree DoS. This vulnerability is associated with program files lib/public_key/src/pubkey_policy_tree.erl and program routines pubkey_policy_tree:add_leaves/2 and pubkey_policy_tree:add_leaf_siblings/2. This issue affects OTP from OTP 26.2 before OTP 27.3.4.15, OTP 28.5.0.4, and OTP 29.0.4, corresponding to public_key from 1.15 before 1.17.1.5, 1.20.3.4, and 1.21.4.

Are you affected?

Enter the version you run. The result uses only the ranges stored on this record.

The check returns affected, not affected, or incomplete. It does not guess a version that is missing from the record.

  • cpe erlang/erlang/otp< 27.3.4.15
  • cpe erlang/erlang/otp< 28.5.0.4
  • cpe erlang/erlang/otp< 29.0.4
  • cpe erlang/erlang/public key< 1.17.1.5
  • cpe erlang/erlang/public key< 1.20.3.4
  • cpe erlang/erlang/public key< 1.21.4

How to fix CVE-2026-59251

  • Upgrade

    CVE-2026-59251 lists a fix boundary at 27.3.4.15. Compare the installed build with that boundary before you change production.

  • Version check

    Affected < 27.3.4.15

  • Advisory

    Open the cve_org record and follow its fix.

  • Official advisories

What to do

Three questions, each answered from this record only. Confirm the vendor advisory before you patch.

Should you patch?

No confirmed exploitation is on record for CVE-2026-59251. EPSS is 0.32%. Act only if a listed version of the affected product is installed.

Which versions are affected?

Compare what you have installed with erlang/erlang/public key < 1.17.1.5; erlang/erlang/public key < 1.20.3.4; erlang/erlang/public key < 1.21.4. Compare the installed version with the linked vendor advisory before you change production.

What should an analyst verify?

CWE-770: Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling. EPSS 0.32%. There is no CISA KEV listing. No Exploit-DB or Metasploit reference is linked. Use the source links for the original advisory.

Code

The project this record applies to. Exploit listings stay in References.

Timeline

Detection, updates, and resolution for this record.

  1. Jul 27, 2026 · NIST NVD

    Detected

    Allocation of resources without limits in Erlang/OTP public_key certificate path validation allows a remote unauthenticated attacker to cause denial of service by sending a crafted X.509 certificate chain during the TLS handshake. During RFC 5280 policy processing in public_key:pkix_path_validation/3, the certificate policy tree maintained by pubkey_policy_tree grows without an upper bound. When a

  2. Nov 11, 2026 · NIST NVD

    Updated

    Allocation of resources without limits in Erlang/OTP public_key certificate path validation allows a remote unauthenticated attacker to cause denial of service by sending a crafted X.509 certificate chain during the TLS handshake. During RFC 5280 policy processing in public_key:pkix_path_validation/3, the certificate policy tree maintained by pubkey_policy_tree grows without an upper bound. When a

Sources

  • CVE.orgVulnerability recordCVE-2026-59251

    Official CVE identifier

    cve.org
  • NIST NVDVulnerability recordCVE-2026-59251

    Allocation of resources without limits in Erlang/OTP public_key certificate path validation allows a remote unauthenticated attacker to cause denial of service by sending a crafted X.509 certificate chain during the TLS handshake. During RFC 5280 policy processing in public_key:

    nvd.nist.gov

References

Freshness

Last verified in this catalog Nov 11, 2026. Significant claims (KEV, EPSS, CVSS, affected ranges) come from the source rows above — open the original publisher for the authoritative advisory.

  • CVE.orgNov 11, 2026
  • NIST NVDNov 11, 2026