PatchSiren cyber security CVE debrief
CVE-2026-58227 Erlang CVE debrief
The Erlang/OTP ssl application does not detect cycles when reconstructing an incomplete peer certificate chain during a TLS or DTLS handshake, affecting OTP from OTP 23.2 before OTP 29.0.4, OTP 28.5.0.4 and OTP 27.3.4.15. This issue allows an unauthenticated remote attacker to exhaust available memory and crash the BEAM node by sending a crafted certificate chain in a TLS or DTLS Certificate handshake message.
- Vendor
- Erlang
- Product
- OTP
- CVSS
- HIGH 8.7
- CISA KEV
- Not listed in stored evidence
- Original CVE published
- 2026-07-27
- Original CVE updated
- 2026-08-10
- Advisory published
- 2026-07-27
- Advisory updated
- 2026-08-10
Who should care
Users of Erlang/OTP versions prior to OTP 29.0.4, OTP 28.5.0.4, and OTP 27.3.4.15 should be aware of this vulnerability. Affected operators, platforms, vulnerability-management, and security teams should review official advisories and assess exposure.
Technical summary
The Erlang/OTP ssl application does not detect cycles when reconstructing an incomplete peer certificate chain during a TLS or DTLS handshake. In ssl_certificate:handle_incomplete_chain/5, the received chain is passed to ssl_certificate:build_certificate_chain/5, which walks issuer relationships via ssl_certificate:do_certificate_chain/7 with no cycle detection and no depth limit. When the peer supplies two mutually cross-signed certificates in unordered form (A issues B, B issues A), the issuer lookup alternates between the two certificates and the pair of functions recurses indefinitely, growing the call stack and chain accumulator without bound.
Defensive priority
High
Recommended defensive actions
- Update to OTP 29.0.4, OTP 28.5.0.4, or OTP 27.3.4.15
- Implement compensating controls such as monitoring and exception tracking
- Review and update certificate chain validation logic
- Confirm whether affected product deployments exist in managed environments and assign an owner for follow-up
- Review the supplied official advisory or CVE record to validate affected scope, severity, and vendor guidance
- Plan vendor-supported updates or mitigations through normal change control where exposure is confirmed
- Check relevant monitoring, detection, and logs for exposed assets that need extra review
Evidence notes
The CVE record was published on 2026-07-27T16:17:56.953Z and has not been modified since then. The NVD entry is currently Received. Evidence is limited to CVE and NVD information. Defenders should verify affected scope, severity, and vendor guidance with official sources.
Sources and references
Verified primary and authoritative sources
-
CVE-2026-58227 CVE Program record
Publisher, destination, and source semantics verified
URL: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-58227
CVE Program - Official CVE Program record with source-provided CVE metadata.
-
CVE-2026-58227 NVD vulnerability detail
Publisher, destination, and source semantics verified
URL: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-58227
NIST National Vulnerability Database - Official NIST NVD detail page and source-specific vulnerability assessment.
Supplemental references
-
Source reference
Unverified legacy reference
URL: https://cna.erlef.org/cves/CVE-2026-58227.html
6b3ad84c-e1a6-4bf7-a703-f496b71e49db
-
Source reference
Unverified legacy reference
URL: https://github.com/erlang/otp/commit/0307bff2c72b685c6bd952daaac6bd661c247d62
6b3ad84c-e1a6-4bf7-a703-f496b71e49db
-
Source reference
Unverified legacy reference
URL: https://github.com/erlang/otp/commit/241d43703989fec4b6bf637beaeb366d92dcc4c2
6b3ad84c-e1a6-4bf7-a703-f496b71e49db
-
Source reference
Unverified legacy reference
URL: https://github.com/erlang/otp/commit/7db64720177961e04545681480d691c4be81c54d
6b3ad84c-e1a6-4bf7-a703-f496b71e49db
-
Source reference
Unverified legacy reference
URL: https://github.com/erlang/otp/security/advisories/GHSA-r5jr-mq46-vmhw
6b3ad84c-e1a6-4bf7-a703-f496b71e49db
-
Source reference
Unverified legacy reference
URL: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/EEF-CVE-2026-58227
6b3ad84c-e1a6-4bf7-a703-f496b71e49db
-
Source reference
Unverified legacy reference
URL: https://www.erlang.org/doc/system/versions.html
6b3ad84c-e1a6-4bf7-a703-f496b71e49db
Methodology and review provenance
AI-assisted synthesis based on stored public vulnerability evidence. System validation, approval state, and publication status do not by themselves establish human review of this revision. PatchSiren helps prioritize defensive review and does not prove exposure or remediation on any system.