CVE-2026-23943Improper Handling of Highly Compressed Data (Compression Bomb) vulnerability in Erlang OTP ssh (ssh_transport modules) allows Denial of Service via Resource Depletion.
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Improper Handling of Highly Compressed Data (Compression Bomb) vulnerability in Erlang OTP ssh (ssh_transport modules) allows Denial of Service via Resource Depletion. The SSH transport layer advertises legacy zlib compression by default and inflates attacker-controlled payloads pre-authentication without any size limit, enabling reliable memory exhaustion DoS. Two compression algorithms are affected: * zlib: Activates immediately after key exchange, enabling unauthenticated attacks * zlib@openssh.com: Activates post-authentication, enabling authenticated attacks Each SSH packet can decompress ~255 MB from 256 KB of wire data (1029:1 amplification ratio). Multiple packets can rapidly exhaust available memory, causing OOM kills in memory-constrained environments. This vulnerability is associated with program files lib/ssh/src/ssh_transport.erl and program routines ssh_transport:decompress/2, ssh_transport:handle_packet_part/4. This issue affects OTP from OTP 17.0 before OTP 28.4.1, OTP 27.3.4.9 and OTP 26.2.5.18, corresponding to ssh from 3.0.1 before 5.5.1, 5.2.11.6 and 5.1.4.14.
- CVSS
- 5.3 MEDIUM (v3.1, NVD)CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
- Weakness (CWE)
- CWE-409
- Known exploited
- Not in CISA's KEV catalog
- EPSS (exploitation in the next 30 days)
- Not loaded for this CVE
- Assigned by
- Not given
- NVD analysis
- Modified
- Record last updated
- Jul 24, 2026
- First seen by InfoSec Signals
- Oct 9, 2026
Affected products
erlang erlang/otp erlang:erlang/otp | from 17.0 before 26.2.5.18; from 27.0 before 27.3.4.9; from 28.0 before 28.4.1 | NVD |
erlang erlang/ssh erlang:erlang/ssh | from 3.0.1 before 5.1.4.14; from 5.2 before 5.2.11.6; from 5.5 through 5.5.1 | NVD |
References
- https://cna.erlef.org/cves/CVE-2026-23943.htmlvendor-advisory
- https://github.com/erlang/otp/commit/0c1c04b191f6ab940e8fcfabce39eb5a8a6440a4patch
- https://github.com/erlang/otp/commit/43a87b949bdff12d629a8c34146711d9da93b1b1patch
- https://github.com/erlang/otp/commit/93073c3bd338c60cd2bae715ce6a1d4ffc1a8fd3patch
- https://github.com/erlang/otp/security/advisories/GHSA-c836-qprm-jw9rvendor-advisory
- https://osv.dev/vulnerability/EEF-CVE-2026-23943third-party-advisory
- https://www.erlang.org/doc/system/versions.html#order-of-versionsproduct
The CVE record on cve.org NVD's entry
The CVE record is authoritative. Products marked “from the name” were identified from the CNA's free-text names, not a CPE, and are matched less certainly. This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD.