elixir-protobuf up to 0.16.0 Decoder lib/protobuf/decoder.ex Protobuf.Decoder.value_for_field resource consumption

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as problematic, was found in elixir-protobuf protobuf up to 0.16.0. Affected by this vulnerability is the function Protobuf.Decoder.value_for_field of the file lib/protobuf/decoder.ex of the component Decoder. The manipulation results in resource consumption. This vulnerability was named CVE-2026-54451. The attack may be performed from remote. There is no available exploit. You should upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as problematic, was found in elixir-protobuf protobuf up to 0.16.0. Affected is the function Protobuf.Decoder.value_for_field of the file lib/protobuf/decoder.ex of the component Decoder. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a resource consumption vulnerability. CWE is classifying the issue as CWE-400. The product does not properly control the allocation and maintenance of a limited resource, thereby enabling an actor to influence the amount of resources consumed, eventually leading to the exhaustion of available resources. This is going to have an impact on availability. CVE summarizes:

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.

The advisory is available at github.com. This vulnerability is traded as CVE-2026-54451 since 06/15/2026. The exploitability is told to be easy. It is possible to launch the attack remotely. Technical details are known, but there is no available exploit. This vulnerability is assigned to T1499 by the MITRE ATT&CK project.

Upgrading to version 0.16.1 eliminates this vulnerability.

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Productinfo

Vendor

• elixir-protobuf

Name

• protobuf

Version

• 0.1
• 0.2
• 0.3
• 0.4
• 0.5
• 0.6
• 0.7
• 0.8
• 0.9
• 0.10
• 0.11
• 0.12
• 0.13
• 0.14
• 0.15
• 0.16.0

Website

• Product: https://github.com/elixir-protobuf/protobuf/

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