---
id: CVE-2026-69664
title: >-
  Missing Release of Resource after Effective Lifetime vulnerability in
  Erlang/OTP inets httpd allows an unauthenticated remote attacker to cause
  denial of service by sending a request with a chunked body whose chunk-size
  line is not a hex…
summary: >-
  Missing Release of Resource after Effective Lifetime vulnerability in
  Erlang/OTP inets httpd allows an unauthenticated remote attacker to cause
  denial of service by sending a request with a chunked body whose chunk-size
  line is not a hex…
severity: high
cvss: 8.7
cvssVector: 'CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N'
cwe:
  - CWE-772
vendor: Erlang
product: otp
affected:
  - otp >= 18.1.4 < 27.3.4.17
  - otp >= 28.0 < 28.5.0.6
  - otp >= 29.0 < 29.0.6
  - inets >= 6.0.3 < 9.3.2.7
  - inets >= 9.4 < 9.6.2.3
  - inets >= 9.7 < 9.7.2
  - erlang/otp >= 77acb473d8f056f6f534395f131c6e45693797f0 < *
published: '2026-09-01'
updated: '2026-09-22'
sourceUpdated: '2026-09-22T10:17:09.610'
source: NVD
sourceUrl: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-69664'
references:
  - url: 'https://cna.erlef.org/cves/CVE-2026-69664.html'
    label: 6b3ad84c-e1a6-4bf7-a703-f496b71e49db
  - url: >-
      https://github.com/erlang/otp/commit/77acb473d8f056f6f534395f131c6e45693797f0
    label: 6b3ad84c-e1a6-4bf7-a703-f496b71e49db
  - url: >-
      https://github.com/erlang/otp/commit/a3adf63078438c86527d704e23282b7721d8ca12
    label: 6b3ad84c-e1a6-4bf7-a703-f496b71e49db
  - url: >-
      https://github.com/erlang/otp/commit/bd4e74348c6be8a49f060da6fd48d43f3a960292
    label: 6b3ad84c-e1a6-4bf7-a703-f496b71e49db
  - url: >-
      https://github.com/erlang/otp/commit/df1a9ca4666e2fdfc44886bfaae76de086d803f6
    label: 6b3ad84c-e1a6-4bf7-a703-f496b71e49db
  - url: 'https://github.com/erlang/otp/security/advisories/GHSA-mr35-8h7w-w3gq'
    label: 6b3ad84c-e1a6-4bf7-a703-f496b71e49db
  - url: 'https://osv.dev/vulnerability/EEF-CVE-2026-69664'
    label: 6b3ad84c-e1a6-4bf7-a703-f496b71e49db
  - url: 'https://www.erlang.org/doc/system/versions.html#order-of-versions'
    label: 6b3ad84c-e1a6-4bf7-a703-f496b71e49db
  - url: 'https://github.com/erlang/otp/security/advisories/GHSA-mr35-8h7w-w3gq'
    label: 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0
tags:
  - nvd
  - cve.org
  - exploit-available
epss: 0.00949
epssPercentile: 0.59533
exploitAvailable: true
ssvc:
  exploitation: poc
  automatable: 'yes'
  technicalImpact: partial
  timestamp: '2026-09-01T17:44:51.976604Z'
cvssSource: cna
ingestedAt: '2026-09-08T15:33:26.956Z'
---

## Overview

Missing Release of Resource after Effective Lifetime vulnerability in Erlang/OTP inets httpd allows an unauthenticated remote attacker to cause denial of service by sending a request with a chunked body whose chunk-size line is not a hexadecimal number. The worker serving the connection is never released and no timeout reclaims it, so repeating the request across connections occupies every available worker and denies service to legitimate clients. No authentication is required and the default configuration is affected.

The chunk-size line must arrive in a write separate from the headers. When the body accompanies the headers, httpd_request_handler:handle_body/3 calls http_chunk:decode/3 inside a try ... catch throw:Error, so the {error, {chunk_size, _}} thrown by http_chunk:decode_size/4 is answered with 400 Bad Request. When the chunk size arrives later, the decoder is resumed through a bare catch in httpd_request_handler:handle_info/2, which converts the throw into a return value rather than raising it; the resulting error tuple is then treated as the next decoder continuation, the socket is re-armed, and the worker waits for data that never comes. The request timeout has already been cancelled at the point the headers were accepted, and the periodic byte-rate check is only armed when minimum_bytes_per_second is configured, which it is not by default.

This issue affects OTP from OTP 18.1.4 before OTP 27.3.4.17, OTP 28.5.0.6, and OTP 29.0.6, corresponding to inets from 6.0.3 before 9.3.2.7, 9.6.2.3, and 9.7.2.

## Remediation

Refer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.