Vulnerability in Elixir-Protobuf Protobuf
CVE-2026-54451
Elixir protobuf is a pure Elixir implementation of Google Protobuf. From 0.8.0 until 0.16.1, services that decode attacker-controlled protobuf bytes with Protobuf.Decoder can be taken offline when the schema contains a self-referential or cyclic message type. In lib/protobuf/decoder.ex, Protobuf.Decoder.value_for_field/3 handles an embedded?: true field by recursively entering the decode / build_message / handle_value / value_for_field call chain without enforcing a nesting-depth limit. Deeply nested embedded fields retain non-tail recursive frames, allowing a comparatively small request to consume substantial CPU and memory, pin a BEAM scheduler, and exhaust the node. This issue is fixed in version 0.16.1.
Published · last modified .
EPSS exploit prediction
EPSS: 0.005 (44.4th percentile), scored .
Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 44th percentile — 44.4% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.
EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.005 · newest: 0.005 · change: 0.000
Affected products
- Elixir-Protobuf Protobuf — versions >= 0.8.0, < 0.16.1