CVE-2026-81319

Unsafe deserialization of decrypted terms enables node DoS in AshCloak

MEDIUM
5.9
CVSS Score
Published: August 30, 2026 at 06:05 PM UTC
Updated: September 1, 2026 at 09:31 PM UTC
1 product affected across 1 vendorAshCloak

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Severity
MEDIUM5.9
Exploit prediction
EPSS 0.4%
SSVC
PoC

Description

Deserialization of Untrusted Data vulnerability in ash-project ash_cloak allows an attacker who can influence the bytes of an encrypted column to crash the BEAM node, by triggering unbounded atom creation or a decompression bomb during decryption. AshCloak.Calculations.Decrypt decodes the decrypted binary with Ash.Helpers.non_executable_binary_to_term/1 without the :safe option, so atoms in the payload are interned during the decode and never garbage collected, and the term format's compressed form is inflated transparently. vault.decrypt!() is the only barrier and stops tampering only for an authenticated cipher. Cloak also ships the unauthenticated AES.CTR, whose ciphertext an attacker who knows their own plaintext can XOR into any same-length payload without the key, so an ordinary read of the forged column reaches the decoder. A few hundred kilobytes of distinct atoms exhausts the atom table, or a small compressed payload inflates to gigabytes. This issue affects ash_cloak: from 0.1.0 before 0.4.0.

Affected

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

0.1.0 ≤ v < 0.4.00.1.0f1595a77fdfa9bfc672f84c2f77feb9e7bf895fc
Vendor states this is fixed in 1690f0a436efe3e7c11d70d74ff5a8ac0fdf6608 (fixed)
Affected range stops below 0.4.0, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement

Remediation

No guide yet

No remediation guidance has been written for this CVE yet. What the record does show:

SSVC — Action Prioritization

SSVCPoCNot automatablePartial impact

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

CVSS

5.9MEDIUMEEF
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusDEFERRED
CWE
CWE-502

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