CVE-2026-54894
Atom-table exhaustion denial of service in Guardian via unbounded atom creation from binary keys
Description
Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling in ueberauth guardian allows denial of service via unbounded atom creation from attacker-influenced binary input. Guardian.Plug.Keys derives connection and session namespace keys by passing arbitrary binaries to String.to_atom/1. base_key/1 in lib/guardian/plug/keys.ex converts any binary into the atom :"guardian_<input>", and the derived helpers claims_key/1, resource_key/1, and token_key/1 create a second atom on top of that. key_from_other/1 likewise converts a regex-captured binary through String.to_atom/1. The public specs advertise String.t() as a valid argument, so passing a string is documented usage, and higher-level entry points such as Guardian.Plug.current_token(conn, key: key) thread the caller-supplied key straight into these functions. String.to_atom/1 creates a brand-new atom for every previously unseen binary, atoms are never garbage collected, and the BEAM atom table is fixed at roughly 1,048,576 entries by default. An application that routes attacker-influenced data (a tenant identifier, header, or other request input) into a Guardian key therefore mints one permanent atom per distinct value. A modest stream of varied, unauthenticated input permanently consumes the atom table and crashes the BEAM node, taking down every application running on it. This issue affects guardian: from 0.1.0 before 2.4.1.
INFO
Published Date :
Aug. 1, 2026, 7:16 p.m.
Last Modified :
Aug. 1, 2026, 7:16 p.m.
Remotely Exploit :
No
Source :
6b3ad84c-e1a6-4bf7-a703-f496b71e49db
Affected Products
The following products are affected by CVE-2026-54894
vulnerability.
Even if cvefeed.io is aware of the exact versions of the
products
that
are
affected, the information is not represented in the table below.
No affected product recoded yet
CVSS Scores
| Score | Version | Severity | Vector | Exploitability Score | Impact Score | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CVSS 4.0 | MEDIUM | 6b3ad84c-e1a6-4bf7-a703-f496b71e49db | ||||
| CVSS 4.0 | MEDIUM | 6b3ad84c-e1a6-4bf7-a703-f496b71e49db |
Solution
- Update Guardian to version 2.4.1 or newer.
- Review and sanitize binary inputs used for key generation.
- Implement limits on atom creation or input length.
References to Advisories, Solutions, and Tools
Here, you will find a curated list of external links that provide in-depth
information, practical solutions, and valuable tools related to
CVE-2026-54894.
CWE - Common Weakness Enumeration
While CVE identifies
specific instances of vulnerabilities, CWE categorizes the common flaws or
weaknesses that can lead to vulnerabilities. CVE-2026-54894 is
associated with the following CWEs:
Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)
Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification
(CAPEC)
stores attack patterns, which are descriptions of the common attributes and
approaches employed by adversaries to exploit the CVE-2026-54894
weaknesses.
We scan GitHub repositories to detect new proof-of-concept exploits. Following list is a collection of public exploits and proof-of-concepts, which have been published on GitHub (sorted by the most recently updated).
Results are limited to the first 15 repositories due to potential performance issues.
The following list is the news that have been mention
CVE-2026-54894 vulnerability anywhere in the article.
The following table lists the changes that have been made to the
CVE-2026-54894 vulnerability over time.
Vulnerability history details can be useful for understanding the evolution of a vulnerability, and for identifying the most recent changes that may impact the vulnerability's severity, exploitability, or other characteristics.
-
New CVE Received by 6b3ad84c-e1a6-4bf7-a703-f496b71e49db
Aug. 01, 2026
Action Type Old Value New Value Added Affected [{'cpes': ['cpe:2.3:a:ueberauth:guardian:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*'], 'repo': 'https://github.com/ueberauth/guardian', 'vendor': 'ueberauth', 'modules': ["'Elixir.Guardian.Plug.Keys'"], 'product': 'guardian', 'versions': [{'status': 'affected', 'version': '0.1.0', 'lessThan': '2.4.1', 'versionType': 'semver'}], 'packageURL': 'pkg:hex/guardian', 'packageName': 'guardian', 'programFiles': ['lib/guardian/plug/keys.ex'], 'collectionURL': 'https://repo.hex.pm', 'defaultStatus': 'unaffected', 'programRoutines': [{'name': "'Elixir.Guardian.Plug.Keys':base_key/1"}, {'name': "'Elixir.Guardian.Plug.Keys':claims_key/1"}, {'name': "'Elixir.Guardian.Plug.Keys':resource_key/1"}, {'name': "'Elixir.Guardian.Plug.Keys':token_key/1"}, {'name': "'Elixir.Guardian.Plug.Keys':key_from_other/1"}]}, {'cpes': ['cpe:2.3:a:ueberauth:guardian:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*'], 'repo': 'https://github.com/ueberauth/guardian', 'vendor': 'ueberauth', 'modules': ["'Elixir.Guardian.Plug.Keys'"], 'product': 'guardian', 'versions': [{'status': 'affected', 'version': '7126fa433afc2563fcac0c9aa35193965f8fd5f8', 'lessThan': '2952657e42e6341a67e6aaad09d8f0b40ae917cb', 'versionType': 'git'}], 'packageURL': 'pkg:github/ueberauth/guardian', 'packageName': 'ueberauth/guardian', 'programFiles': ['lib/guardian/plug/keys.ex'], 'collectionURL': 'https://github.com', 'defaultStatus': 'unaffected', 'programRoutines': [{'name': "'Elixir.Guardian.Plug.Keys':base_key/1"}, {'name': "'Elixir.Guardian.Plug.Keys':claims_key/1"}, {'name': "'Elixir.Guardian.Plug.Keys':resource_key/1"}, {'name': "'Elixir.Guardian.Plug.Keys':token_key/1"}, {'name': "'Elixir.Guardian.Plug.Keys':key_from_other/1"}]}] Added Description Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling in ueberauth guardian allows denial of service via unbounded atom creation from attacker-influenced binary input. Guardian.Plug.Keys derives connection and session namespace keys by passing arbitrary binaries to String.to_atom/1. base_key/1 in lib/guardian/plug/keys.ex converts any binary into the atom :"guardian_<input>", and the derived helpers claims_key/1, resource_key/1, and token_key/1 create a second atom on top of that. key_from_other/1 likewise converts a regex-captured binary through String.to_atom/1. The public specs advertise String.t() as a valid argument, so passing a string is documented usage, and higher-level entry points such as Guardian.Plug.current_token(conn, key: key) thread the caller-supplied key straight into these functions. String.to_atom/1 creates a brand-new atom for every previously unseen binary, atoms are never garbage collected, and the BEAM atom table is fixed at roughly 1,048,576 entries by default. An application that routes attacker-influenced data (a tenant identifier, header, or other request input) into a Guardian key therefore mints one permanent atom per distinct value. A modest stream of varied, unauthenticated input permanently consumes the atom table and crashes the BEAM node, taking down every application running on it. This issue affects guardian: from 0.1.0 before 2.4.1. Added CVSS V4.0 AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:H/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X Added CWE CWE-770 Added Reference https://cna.erlef.org/cves/CVE-2026-54894.html Added Reference https://github.com/ueberauth/guardian/commit/2952657e42e6341a67e6aaad09d8f0b40ae917cb Added Reference https://github.com/ueberauth/guardian/security/advisories/GHSA-xqch-c77q-rgh5 Added Reference https://osv.dev/vulnerability/EEF-CVE-2026-54894