6.9
MEDIUM CVSS 4.0
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
The Common Vulnerability Scoring System is a standardized framework for assessing the severity of vulnerabilities in software and systems. We collect and displays CVSS scores from various sources for each CVE.
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 2.4.1 or later to fix resource allocation issues causing denial of service.
  • 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
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:

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
EPSS is a daily estimate of the probability of exploitation activity being observed over the next 30 days. Following chart shows the EPSS score history of the vulnerability.