Erlang OTP mod_auth privileges management

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability identified as critical has been detected in Erlang OTP. This affects an unknown part of the component mod_auth. Performing a manipulation results in privileges management. This vulnerability is reported as CVE-2026-74994. The attack is possible to be carried out remotely. No exploit exists.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Erlang OTP (affected version not known). It has been classified as critical. This affects some unknown functionality of the component mod_auth. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a privileges management vulnerability. CWE is classifying the issue as CWE-269. The product does not properly assign, modify, track, or check privileges for an actor, creating an unintended sphere of control for that actor. This is going to have an impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

The mod_auth module in OTP's inets httpd server, when configured with dets or mnesia authentication backends and multiple directory configuration blocks, collapses all directory blocks into a single shared user/group namespace. A user added to one protected directory is accepted as valid for all other protected directories on the same server instance. This issue affects OTP from OTP 17.0 before OTP 27.3.4.17, from OTP 28.0 before OTP 28.5.0.6, and from OTP 29.0 before OTP 29.0.6, corresponding to inets from 5.10 before 9.3.2.7, from 9.4 before 9.6.2.3, and from 9.7 before 9.7.2. Whether OTP before OTP 17.0, corresponding to inets before 5.10, is affected is unknown.

It is possible to read the advisory at github.com. This vulnerability is uniquely identified as CVE-2026-74994 since 08/17/2026. The exploitability is told to be easy. It is possible to initiate the attack remotely. The technical details are unknown and an exploit is not publicly available. The pricing for an exploit might be around USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 09/01/2026). The attack technique deployed by this issue is T1068 according to MITRE ATT&CK.

There is no information about possible countermeasures known. It may be suggested to replace the affected object with an alternative product.

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Productinfo

Vendor

• Erlang

Name

• OTP

Website

• Product: https://github.com/erlang/otp/

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