CVE-2026-65627
Decompression bomb via unbounded zlib:inflate in jose_jwe_zip:uncompress/2
What happened?
Improper Handling of Highly Compressed Data (Data Amplification) vulnerability in potatosalad jose (erlang-jose) allows a remote attacker to exhaust a node's memory with a small crafted JWE token.
The jose_jwe_zip:uncompress/2 function in src/jwe/jose_jwe_zip.erl decompresses the DEFLATE-compressed plaintext of a JWE that carries the optional zip: DEF header by calling zlib:inflate/2 on the entire attacker-controlled stream, with no bound on the output size or the inflation ratio. Raw DEFLATE reaches ratios around 1000:1 on highly repetitive input, so a few-kilobyte token inflates to hundreds of megabytes or gigabytes in a single call.
Decompression runs automatically during decryption through jose_jwe:block_decrypt/2 (JOSE.JWE.block_decrypt/2 in Elixir), before the recipient can inspect or reject the payload. With the common asymmetric key-management algorithms (RSA-OAEP, ECDH-ES) an attacker needs only the recipient's public key to craft such a token, so no authentication or secret material is required. A single small token can exhaust the node's memory and crash the BEAM, denying service to all users.
This issue affects jose: from 1.0.0 before 1.11.13.
Affected software and versions
| Software | Version information | Fixed version |
|---|---|---|
| josepotatosalad | affected: 1.0.0 to < 1.11.13 | See vendor advisory |
| potatosalad/erlang-josepotatosalad | affected: a7746ecd4950f85a393136e449a91dac62b5c429 to < 857eb8e7f2d33e2c9ca2189e77226561cacaf2ad | See vendor advisory |
Version information comes from the source record and can include unaffected products and exceptions. Distribution packages may contain backported fixes: an older upstream version alone does not prove a server is affected.
Is it being exploited?
This CVE was not listed in the CISA catalogue at our last retrieval. This does not establish that exploitation is absent.
How to respond
- Confirm the product, installed package version, and any configuration requirements in the vendor advisory.
- Follow the vendor’s remediation or workaround guidance in the references below. Structured fixed-version data is unavailable here; the publisher’s description may include a fix or workaround.
- Restart affected services if required, then verify the running version. Known exploitation may warrant investigation as well as patching.
Sources and remediation references
- https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-65627
- https://github.com/potatosalad/erlang-jose/security/advisories/GHSA-wfpv-qxp8-x5gm
- https://cna.erlef.org/cves/CVE-2026-65627.html
- https://osv.dev/vulnerability/EEF-CVE-2026-65627
- https://github.com/potatosalad/erlang-jose/commit/a7746ecd4950f85a393136e449a91dac62b5c429
- https://github.com/potatosalad/erlang-jose/commit/857eb8e7f2d33e2c9ca2189e77226561cacaf2ad