CVE-2026-96596

Source
https://cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-96596
Import Source
https://storage.googleapis.com/cve-osv-conversion/osv-output/CVE-2026-96596.json
JSON Data
https://api.osv.dev/v1/vulns/CVE-2026-96596
Aliases
Downstream
Published
2026-10-14T16:56:18Z
Modified
2026-10-15T10:47:01Z
Severity
  • 5.9 (Medium) CVSS_V4 - CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N CVSS Calculator
Summary
erl_tar:extract/2 loops forever on a GNU sparse member with a trailing hole
Details

Loop with Unreachable Exit Condition ('Infinite Loop') vulnerability in Erlang OTP stdlib (erl_tar module), hexpm hex_core (hex_erl_tar module), hexpm hex (mix_hex_erl_tar module) and erlang rebar3 (r3_hex_erl_tar module) allows an attacker who supplies a tar archive to cause a denial of service via a crafted GNU sparse member.

When erl_tar:extract/1,2 writes a member to disk, erl_tar:stream_to_file_loop/3 reads it in chunks of 65536 bytes by default. For a GNU sparse member whose sparse map ends before its real size, erl_tar:do_sparse_read/3 matches its trailing-hole clause before its zero-length clause. After the chunk is used up, the trailing-hole clause reads zero bytes, does not advance the position, and recurses forever. A 2048-byte archive keeps the extracting process and one scheduler busy until the process is killed. The {max_size, N} option prevents this only when N is below the real size of the member. Extraction with the memory option is not affected.

hex_core ships its own copy of erl_tar as hex_erl_tar, and Hex and rebar3 ship hex_core with prefixed module names (mix_hex_erl_tar and r3_hex_erl_tar). These copies contain the same code and do not call stdlib's erl_tar, so they are affected on any OTP version. OTP 28 is not affected, but an application running on OTP 28 is affected if it extracts archives through an affected version of hex_core, Hex or rebar3.

This issue affects OTP from OTPĀ 29.0 before OTPĀ 29.1.2, corresponding to stdlib from 8.0 before 8.1.1, and rebar3 from 3.27.1 onward, and hex from 2.4.2 before 2.5.3; hex_core: from 0.14.0 before 0.20.1.

Database specific
{
    "cna_assigner":  "EEF",
    "cwe_ids":  [
        "CWE-835"
    ],
    "osv_generated_from":  "https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2026/96xxx/CVE-2026-96596.json",
    "unresolved_ranges":  [
        {
            "extracted_events":  [
                {
                    "introduced":  "29.0"
                },
                {
                    "fixed":  "29.1.2"
                },
                {
                    "introduced":  "8.0"
                },
                {
                    "fixed":  "8.1.1"
                },
                {
                    "introduced":  "3.27.1"
                },
                {
                    "fixed":  "*"
                },
                {
                    "introduced":  "23dbdb5d1f87f56902aef296c88a20049cd0c6e4"
                },
                {
                    "fixed":  "*"
                },
                {
                    "introduced":  "2.4.2"
                },
                {
                    "fixed":  "2.5.3"
                }
            ],
            "source":  "AFFECTED_FIELD"
        }
    ]
}
References

Affected packages

Git / github.com/erlang/otp

Database specific

source
"https://storage.googleapis.com/cve-osv-conversion/osv-output/CVE-2026-96596.json"

Git / github.com/hexpm/hex

Affected ranges

Type
GIT
Repo
https://github.com/hexpm/hex
Events
Database specific
Show details
{
    "extracted_events":  [
        {
            "introduced":  "0.14.0"
        },
        {
            "fixed":  "0.20.1"
        }
    ],
    "source":  "AFFECTED_FIELD"
}

Affected versions

v0.*
v0.14.0
v0.14.1
v0.15.0
v0.16.0
v0.16.1
v0.17.0
v0.17.1
v0.17.2
v0.17.3
v0.17.4
v0.17.5
v0.17.6
v0.17.7
v0.18.0
v0.18.1
v0.18.2
v0.19.0
v0.20.0

Database specific

source
"https://storage.googleapis.com/cve-osv-conversion/osv-output/CVE-2026-96596.json"

Git / github.com/hexpm/hex_core

Affected ranges

Type
GIT
Repo
https://github.com/hexpm/hex_core
Events

Affected versions

v0.*
v0.14.0
v0.14.1
v0.15.0
v0.16.0
v0.16.1
v0.17.0
v0.18.0
v0.19.0
v0.20.0

Database specific

source
"https://storage.googleapis.com/cve-osv-conversion/osv-output/CVE-2026-96596.json"