CVE-2026-105280

Hex writes unverified package tarballs to standard output in mix hex.package fetch

MEDIUM
6.9
CVSS Score
Published: October 12, 2026 at 03:30 PM UTC
Updated: October 16, 2026 at 06:17 PM UTC
1 product affected across 1 vendorHex

Using hex by hexpm?

Get instant alerts when new vulnerabilities affect hex - before attackers find them.

Real-time alertsTrack your software stackFree plan available
Severity
MEDIUM6.9
Exploit prediction
EPSS 0.2%
SSVC
No known exploit

Description

Improper Validation of Integrity Check Value vulnerability in hexpm hex allows a package mirror to substitute the tarball that mix hex.package fetch PACKAGE VERSION --output - writes to standard output. Hex compares a fetched tarball's inner and outer checksums with the repository's signed registry before writing it to a file or unpacking it. The standard output branch of mix hex.package fetch writes the bytes returned by Hex.SCM.fetch/3 without that comparison, and Hex.SCM.fetch/3 doesn't verify freshly downloaded tarballs itself. When a mirror configured with HEX_MIRROR_URL or mirror_url serves altered bytes, the command prints them and exits successfully, while the same fetch with --output FILE fails with a checksum mismatch. Hex also prints diagnostics to standard output while the command runs: the body of a failed HTTP response from the update check or a registry fetch, and API warnings from the x-hex-message header. A mirror that answers one of those requests with an error whose body is a tar archive gets that archive written to standard output ahead of the verified tarball, so a pipeline that unpacks standard output extracts the mirror's files. This happens even when the checksum check then fails, because the archive is already on standard output. This issue affects hex: from 0.20.2 before 2.5.2.

Affected

Our own answer: ranges merged, affected separated from platform-only, with confidence and review flags.

SSVC — Action Prioritization

SSVCNo known exploitNot automatablePartial impact

SSVC signals action urgency (what to patch first), separate from CVSS which measures severity.

CVSS

6.9MEDIUMEEF
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusDEFERRED
CWE
CWE-354

Get alerted

Stop reading CVE feeds looking for your own stack

Track the products you run and VulnTracker tells you when a new CVE affects them — with what is known about fixing it, and nothing about the rest.

Free plan, no card