{"id":"CVE-2026-75758","aliases":["ALPINE-CVE-2026-75758","AZL-98220","DEBIAN-CVE-2026-75758","EEF-CVE-2026-75758","EUVD-2026-67707","GHSA-jf5q-v438-665c","UBUNTU-CVE-2026-75758"],"status":"published","title":"Unbounded recursion between Inspect.List charlist rendering and List.to_string/1 error path in Elixir","description":"Uncontrolled Recursion vulnerability in the Elixir standard library allows an attacker who controls a list passed to inspect/1, List.to_string/1, or List.to_charlist/1 to exhaust a BEAM node's memory.\n\nInspect.List's charlist branch in lib/elixir/lib/inspect.ex classifies a list as a charlist using List.ascii_printable?/2, which examines only the first :printable_limit (4096 by default) elements, and then calls IO.chardata_to_string/1 on the whole term. A list whose printable prefix exceeds that limit but which contains a later element that is not a code point (an atom, an out-of-range integer, or an improper tail) is therefore mis-classified, and the conversion raises ArgumentError. That conversion runs inside List.to_string/1, whose rescue clause builds its message by interpolating inspect(list), which re-enters the same branch and raises again. The nested inspection is an argument to raise, so the recursion is not in tail position and every level is retained: the process stack grows monotonically while each cycle re-walks the list, until the process is killed by max_heap_size or, by default, the node runs out of memory. List.to_charlist/1 has the same rescue shape.\n\nBelow the printable limit the inner inspect/1 sees the invalid element within its counter and renders the list in ordinary bracket form, so a single ArgumentError is raised and no recursion occurs.\n\nThis issue affects elixir: from 1.15.0-rc.0 before 1.18.5, from 1.19.0-rc.0 before 1.19.6, and from 1.20.0-rc.0 before 1.20.4.","severity":{"version":"4.0","score":5.9,"vector":"CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N","level":"medium","assessor":"cna","from":"cve"},"epss":{"day":"2026-11-09","score":0.0018,"percentile":0.076,"model":"v2026.06.15"},"facts":{"in_kev":false,"known_exploited":false,"public_exploit":false,"fix_available":true},"cwes":["CWE-674"],"published":"2026-08-28T11:28:53Z","modified":"2026-11-05T05:40:51Z","fixes":[{"ecosystem":"Alpine:v3.24","package":"elixir","fixed_in":["1.19.6-r0"],"sources":["osv"]},{"ecosystem":"Azure Linux:3","package":"elixir","fixed_in":["1.16.1-3"],"sources":["osv"]},{"ecosystem":"Debian:14","package":"elixir-lang","fixed_in":["1.20.4+dfsg-1"],"sources":["osv"]}],"affected":[{"source":"osv","ecosystem":"Alpine:v3.24","package":"elixir","ranges":[{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"0"},{"fixed":"1.19.6-r0"}]}]},{"source":"osv","ecosystem":"Azure Linux:3","package":"elixir","ranges":[{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"0"},{"fixed":"1.16.1-3"}]}]},{"source":"osv","ecosystem":"Debian:13","package":"elixir-lang","ranges":[{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"0"}]}],"versions":["1.18.3.dfsg-1","1.18.3.dfsg-2","1.19.5.dfsg-1","1.19.5.dfsg-2","1.20.0.dfsg-1","1.20.1.dfsg-1","1.20.1.dfsg-2","1.20.4+dfsg-1"]},{"source":"osv","ecosystem":"Debian:14","package":"elixir-lang","ranges":[{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"0"},{"fixed":"1.20.4+dfsg-1"}]}],"versions":["1.18.3.dfsg-1","1.18.3.dfsg-2","1.19.5.dfsg-1","1.19.5.dfsg-2","1.20.0.dfsg-1","1.20.1.dfsg-1","1.20.1.dfsg-2"]},{"source":"osv","ecosystem":"Ubuntu:14.04:LTS","package":"elixir","ranges":[{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"0"}]}],"versions":["0.7.1-1","0.7.1-2","0.7.1-4build0.14.04.1"]},{"source":"osv","ecosystem":"Ubuntu:16.04:LTS","package":"elixir","ranges":[{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"0"}]}],"versions":["0.7.1-3","0.7.1-4build0.16.04.1"]},{"source":"osv","ecosystem":"Ubuntu:18.04:LTS","package":"elixir","ranges":[{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"0"}]}],"versions":["0.7.1-4build1"]}],"products":[{"vendor":"elixir-lang","product":"elixir"}],"references":[{"url":"https://github.com/elixir-lang/elixir/security/advisories/GHSA-jf5q-v438-665c","tags":["vendor-advisory","related","exploit","advisory","report"]},{"url":"https://cna.erlef.org/cves/CVE-2026-75758.html","tags":["related","web","report"]},{"url":"https://osv.dev/vulnerability/EEF-CVE-2026-75758","tags":["related","web","report"]},{"url":"https://github.com/elixir-lang/elixir/commit/1eff1acffd49bdcc0d7f57ca74c1603328eed68a","tags":["patch","fix","report"]},{"url":"https://github.com/elixir-lang/elixir/commit/5230d73968f1b4969d2a2646786fa6c71475f5cc","tags":["patch","fix","report"]},{"url":"https://github.com/elixir-lang/elixir/commit/a983c8c043b1fbf1d95df78a29149222dac2988c","tags":["patch","fix","report"]},{"url":"https://github.com/elixir-lang/elixir/commit/0bba5887577b1e328da825bd018815fdc519685a","tags":["patch","fix","report"]},{"url":"https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2026-75758","tags":["advisory"]},{"url":"https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-75758","tags":["web","advisory"]},{"url":"https://github.com","tags":["web"]},{"url":"https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2026/75xxx/CVE-2026-75758.json","tags":["advisory"]},{"url":"https://github.com/elixir-lang/elixir","tags":["package"]},{"url":"https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2026-75758","tags":["advisory"]},{"url":"https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2026-75758","tags":["report"]},{"url":"https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-75758","tags":["report"]}],"sources":{"cve":[{"id":"CVE-2026-75758","title":"Unbounded recursion between Inspect.List charlist rendering and List.to_string/1 error path in Elixir","description":"Uncontrolled Recursion vulnerability in the Elixir standard library allows an attacker who controls a list passed to inspect/1, List.to_string/1, or List.to_charlist/1 to exhaust a BEAM node's memory.\n\nInspect.List's charlist branch in lib/elixir/lib/inspect.ex classifies a list as a charlist using List.ascii_printable?/2, which examines only the first :printable_limit (4096 by default) elements, and then calls IO.chardata_to_string/1 on the whole term. A list whose printable prefix exceeds that limit but which contains a later element that is not a code point (an atom, an out-of-range integer, or an improper tail) is therefore mis-classified, and the conversion raises ArgumentError. That conversion runs inside List.to_string/1, whose rescue clause builds its message by interpolating inspect(list), which re-enters the same branch and raises again. The nested inspection is an argument to raise, so the recursion is not in tail position and every level is retained: the process stack grows monotonically while each cycle re-walks the list, until the process is killed by max_heap_size or, by default, the node runs out of memory. List.to_charlist/1 has the same rescue shape.\n\nBelow the printable limit the inner inspect/1 sees the invalid element within its counter and renders the list in ordinary bracket form, so a single ArgumentError is raised and no recursion occurs.\n\nThis issue affects elixir: from 1.15.0-rc.0 before 1.18.5, from 1.19.0-rc.0 before 1.19.6, and from 1.20.0-rc.0 before 1.20.4.","status":"published","published":"2026-08-28T11:28:53.505Z","modified":"2026-08-28T18:29:23.745Z","cvss":[{"version":"4.0","score":5.9,"vector":"CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N","level":"medium","assessor":"cna"}],"cwes":["CWE-674"],"updated_at":"2026-11-02T14:20:07.260654Z"}],"euvd":[{"id":"EUVD-2026-67707","description":"Uncontrolled Recursion vulnerability in the Elixir standard library allows an attacker who controls a list passed to inspect/1, List.to_string/1, or List.to_charlist/1 to exhaust a BEAM node's memory.\n\nInspect.List's charlist branch in lib/elixir/lib/inspect.ex classifies a list as a charlist using List.ascii_printable?/2, which examines only the first :printable_limit (4096 by default) elements, and then calls IO.chardata_to_string/1 on the whole term. A list whose printable prefix exceeds that limit but which contains a later element that is not a code point (an atom, an out-of-range integer, or an improper tail) is therefore mis-classified, and the conversion raises ArgumentError. That conversion runs inside List.to_string/1, whose rescue clause builds its message by interpolating inspect(list), which re-enters the same branch and raises again. The nested inspection is an argument to raise, so the recursion is not in tail position and every level is retained: the process stack grows monotonically while each cycle re-walks the list, until the process is killed by max_heap_size or, by default, the node runs out of memory. List.to_charlist/1 has the same rescue shape.\n\nBelow the printable limit the inner inspect/1 sees the invalid element within its counter and renders the list in ordinary bracket form, so a single ArgumentError is raised and no recursion occurs.\n\nThis issue affects elixir: from 1.15.0-rc.0 before 1.18.5, from 1.19.0-rc.0 before 1.19.6, and from 1.20.0-rc.0 before 1.20.4.","status":"published","published":"2026-08-28T11:28:53Z","modified":"2026-08-28T18:29:23Z","cvss":[{"version":"4.0","score":5.9,"vector":"CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N","level":"medium"}],"updated_at":"2026-11-02T18:01:22.759915Z"}],"nvd":[{"id":"CVE-2026-75758","description":"Uncontrolled Recursion vulnerability in the Elixir standard library allows an attacker who controls a list passed to inspect/1, List.to_string/1, or List.to_charlist/1 to exhaust a BEAM node's memory.\n\nInspect.List's charlist branch in lib/elixir/lib/inspect.ex classifies a list as a charlist using List.ascii_printable?/2, which examines only the first :printable_limit (4096 by default) elements, and then calls IO.chardata_to_string/1 on the whole term. A list whose printable prefix exceeds that limit but which contains a later element that is not a code point (an atom, an out-of-range integer, or an improper tail) is therefore mis-classified, and the conversion raises ArgumentError. That conversion runs inside List.to_string/1, whose rescue clause builds its message by interpolating inspect(list), which re-enters the same branch and raises again. The nested inspection is an argument to raise, so the recursion is not in tail position and every level is retained: the process stack grows monotonically while each cycle re-walks the list, until the process is killed by max_heap_size or, by default, the node runs out of memory. List.to_charlist/1 has the same rescue shape.\n\nBelow the printable limit the inner inspect/1 sees the invalid element within its counter and renders the list in ordinary bracket form, so a single ArgumentError is raised and no recursion occurs.\n\nThis issue affects elixir: from 1.15.0-rc.0 before 1.18.5, from 1.19.0-rc.0 before 1.19.6, and from 1.20.0-rc.0 before 1.20.4.","status":"published","published":"2026-08-28T16:18:25.277Z","modified":"2026-09-01T21:15:00.147Z","cvss":[{"version":"4.0","score":5.9,"vector":"CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/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","level":"medium","assessor":"secondary"}],"cwes":["CWE-674"],"updated_at":"2026-11-02T14:12:42.366888Z"}],"osv":[{"id":"ALPINE-CVE-2026-75758","description":"Uncontrolled Recursion vulnerability in the Elixir standard library allows an attacker who controls a list passed to inspect/1, List.to_string/1, or List.to_charlist/1 to exhaust a BEAM node's memory.\n\nInspect.List's charlist branch in lib/elixir/lib/inspect.ex classifies a list as a charlist using List.ascii_printable?/2, which examines only the first :printable_limit (4096 by default) elements, and then calls IO.chardata_to_string/1 on the whole term. A list whose printable prefix exceeds that limit but which contains a later element that is not a code point (an atom, an out-of-range integer, or an improper tail) is therefore mis-classified, and the conversion raises ArgumentError. That conversion runs inside List.to_string/1, whose rescue clause builds its message by interpolating inspect(list), which re-enters the same branch and raises again. The nested inspection is an argument to raise, so the recursion is not in tail position and every level is retained: the process stack grows monotonically while each cycle re-walks the list, until the process is killed by max_heap_size or, by default, the node runs out of memory. List.to_charlist/1 has the same rescue shape.\n\nBelow the printable limit the inner inspect/1 sees the invalid element within its counter and renders the list in ordinary bracket form, so a single ArgumentError is raised and no recursion occurs.\n\nThis issue affects elixir: from 1.15.0-rc.0 before 1.18.5, from 1.19.0-rc.0 before 1.19.6, and from 1.20.0-rc.0 before 1.20.4.","status":"published","published":"2026-08-28T16:18:25.277Z","modified":"2026-11-03T06:33:03.901398545Z","cvss":[{"version":"4.0","score":5.9,"vector":"CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/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","level":"medium"}],"updated_at":"2026-11-03T07:15:37.282377Z"},{"id":"CVE-2026-75758","title":"Unbounded recursion between Inspect.List charlist rendering and List.to_string/1 error path in Elixir","description":"Uncontrolled Recursion vulnerability in the Elixir standard library allows an attacker who controls a list passed to inspect/1, List.to_string/1, or List.to_charlist/1 to exhaust a BEAM node's memory.\n\nInspect.List's charlist branch in lib/elixir/lib/inspect.ex classifies a list as a charlist using List.ascii_printable?/2, which examines only the first :printable_limit (4096 by default) elements, and then calls IO.chardata_to_string/1 on the whole term. A list whose printable prefix exceeds that limit but which contains a later element that is not a code point (an atom, an out-of-range integer, or an improper tail) is therefore mis-classified, and the conversion raises ArgumentError. That conversion runs inside List.to_string/1, whose rescue clause builds its message by interpolating inspect(list), which re-enters the same branch and raises again. The nested inspection is an argument to raise, so the recursion is not in tail position and every level is retained: the process stack grows monotonically while each cycle re-walks the list, until the process is killed by max_heap_size or, by default, the node runs out of memory. List.to_charlist/1 has the same rescue shape.\n\nBelow the printable limit the inner inspect/1 sees the invalid element within its counter and renders the list in ordinary bracket form, so a single ArgumentError is raised and no recursion occurs.\n\nThis issue affects elixir: from 1.15.0-rc.0 before 1.18.5, from 1.19.0-rc.0 before 1.19.6, and from 1.20.0-rc.0 before 1.20.4.","status":"published","published":"2026-08-28T11:28:53.505Z","modified":"2026-10-28T02:30:59.391678262Z","cvss":[{"version":"4.0","score":5.9,"vector":"CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N","level":"medium"}],"cwes":["CWE-674"],"updated_at":"2026-11-02T15:45:17.102988Z"},{"id":"DEBIAN-CVE-2026-75758","description":"Uncontrolled Recursion vulnerability in the Elixir standard library allows an attacker who controls a list passed to inspect/1, List.to_string/1, or List.to_charlist/1 to exhaust a BEAM node's memory.  Inspect.List's charlist branch in lib/elixir/lib/inspect.ex classifies a list as a charlist using List.ascii_printable?/2, which examines only the first :printable_limit (4096 by default) elements, and then calls IO.chardata_to_string/1 on the whole term. A list whose printable prefix exceeds that limit but which contains a later element that is not a code point (an atom, an out-of-range integer, or an improper tail) is therefore mis-classified, and the conversion raises ArgumentError. That conversion runs inside List.to_string/1, whose rescue clause builds its message by interpolating inspect(list), which re-enters the same branch and raises again. The nested inspection is an argument to raise, so the recursion is not in tail position and every level is retained: the process stack grows monotonically while each cycle re-walks the list, until the process is killed by max_heap_size or, by default, the node runs out of memory. List.to_charlist/1 has the same rescue shape.  Below the printable limit the inner inspect/1 sees the invalid element within its counter and renders the list in ordinary bracket form, so a single ArgumentError is raised and no recursion occurs.  This issue affects elixir: from 1.15.0-rc.0 before 1.18.5, from 1.19.0-rc.0 before 1.19.6, and from 1.20.0-rc.0 before 1.20.4.","status":"published","published":"2026-08-28T16:18:25.277Z","modified":"2026-10-01T03:03:49.769797733Z","cvss":[{"version":"4.0","score":5.9,"vector":"CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/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","level":"medium"}],"updated_at":"2026-11-02T15:46:03.004924Z"},{"id":"EEF-CVE-2026-75758","title":"Unbounded recursion between Inspect.List charlist rendering and List.to_string/1 error path in Elixir","description":"## Summary\n\nUncontrolled Recursion vulnerability in the Elixir standard library allows an attacker who controls a list passed to `inspect/1`, `List.to_string/1`, or `List.to_charlist/1` to exhaust a BEAM node's memory.\n\n`Inspect.List`'s charlist branch in `lib/elixir/lib/inspect.ex` classifies a list as a charlist using `List.ascii_printable?/2`, which examines only the first `:printable_limit` (4096 by default) elements, and then calls `IO.chardata_to_string/1` on the whole term. A list whose printable prefix exceeds that limit but which contains a later element that is not a code point (an atom, an out-of-range integer, or an improper tail) is therefore mis-classified, and the conversion raises `ArgumentError`. That conversion runs inside `List.to_string/1`, whose rescue clause builds its message by interpolating `inspect(list)`, which re-enters the same branch and raises again. The nested inspection is an argument to `raise`, so the recursion is not in tail position and every level is retained: the process stack grows monotonically while each cycle re-walks the list, until the process is killed by `max_heap_size` or, by default, the node runs out of memory. `List.to_charlist/1` has the same rescue shape.\n\nBelow the printable limit the inner `inspect/1` sees the invalid element within its counter and renders the list in ordinary bracket form, so a single `ArgumentError` is raised and no recursion occurs.\n\nThis issue affects elixir: from 1.15.0-rc.0 before 1.18.5, from 1.19.0-rc.0 before 1.19.6, and from 1.20.0-rc.0 before 1.20.4.\n\n## Workarounds\n\nInstall a global inspect function that renders lists as lists rather than inferring charlists, by calling `Inspect.Opts.default_inspect_fun/1` with `fn term, opts -\u003e Inspect.inspect(term, %{opts | charlists: :as_lists}) end` from the application's start callback. This keeps the charlist branch from being entered at all, so the mis-inferred conversion never raises and the error path cannot recurse.\n\nThe trade-off is global: charlists then render in bracket form, so `~c\"abc\"` inspects as `[97, 98, 99]` everywhere in the application, including in logs and error reports.","status":"published","published":"2026-08-28T11:28:53.505Z","modified":"2026-09-08T03:45:03.806286773Z","cvss":[{"version":"4.0","score":5.9,"vector":"CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N","level":"medium"}],"cwes":["CWE-674"],"updated_at":"2026-11-02T15:46:33.520522Z"},{"id":"UBUNTU-CVE-2026-75758","description":"Uncontrolled Recursion vulnerability in the Elixir standard library allows an attacker who controls a list passed to inspect/1, List.to_string/1, or List.to_charlist/1 to exhaust a BEAM node's memory. Inspect.List's charlist branch in lib/elixir/lib/inspect.ex classifies a list as a charlist using List.ascii_printable?/2, which examines only the first :printable_limit (4096 by default) elements, and then calls IO.chardata_to_string/1 on the whole term. A list whose printable prefix exceeds that limit but which contains a later element that is not a code point (an atom, an out-of-range integer, or an improper tail) is therefore mis-classified, and the conversion raises ArgumentError. That conversion runs inside List.to_string/1, whose rescue clause builds its message by interpolating inspect(list), which re-enters the same branch and raises again. The nested inspection is an argument to raise, so the recursion is not in tail position and every level is retained: the process stack grows monotonically while each cycle re-walks the list, until the process is killed by max_heap_size or, by default, the node runs out of memory. List.to_charlist/1 has the same rescue shape. Below the printable limit the inner inspect/1 sees the invalid element within its counter and renders the list in ordinary bracket form, so a single ArgumentError is raised and no recursion occurs. This issue affects elixir: from 1.15.0-rc.0 before 1.18.5, from 1.19.0-rc.0 before 1.19.6, and from 1.20.0-rc.0 before 1.20.4.","status":"published","published":"2026-08-28T16:18:00Z","modified":"2026-09-02T16:27:46Z","cvss":[{"version":"4.0","score":5.9,"vector":"CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N","level":"medium"}],"updated_at":"2026-11-02T16:57:13.483205Z"},{"id":"AZL-98220","title":"CVE-2026-75758 affecting package elixir for versions less than 1.16.1-3","description":"Uncontrolled Recursion vulnerability in the Elixir standard library allows an attacker who controls a list passed to inspect/1, List.to_string/1, or List.to_charlist/1 to exhaust a BEAM node's memory.\n\nInspect.List's charlist branch in lib/elixir/lib/inspect.ex classifies a list as a charlist using List.ascii_printable?/2, which examines only the first :printable_limit (4096 by default) elements, and then calls IO.chardata_to_string/1 on the whole term. A list whose printable prefix exceeds that limit but which contains a later element that is not a code point (an atom, an out-of-range integer, or an improper tail) is therefore mis-classified, and the conversion raises ArgumentError. That conversion runs inside List.to_string/1, whose rescue clause builds its message by interpolating inspect(list), which re-enters the same branch and raises again. The nested inspection is an argument to raise, so the recursion is not in tail position and every level is retained: the process stack grows monotonically while each cycle re-walks the list, until the process is killed by max_heap_size or, by default, the node runs out of memory. List.to_charlist/1 has the same rescue shape.\n\nBelow the printable limit the inner inspect/1 sees the invalid element within its counter and renders the list in ordinary bracket form, so a single ArgumentError is raised and no recursion occurs.\n\nThis issue affects elixir: from 1.15.0-rc.0 before 1.18.5, from 1.19.0-rc.0 before 1.19.6, and from 1.20.0-rc.0 before 1.20.4.","status":"published","published":"2026-08-28T16:18:25Z","modified":"2026-11-05T05:40:51Z","updated_at":"2026-11-05T16:41:26.280152Z"}]}}