Time-of-check Time-of-use (TOCTOU) race condition vulnerability in Erlang/OTP ssl (dtls_packet_demux module) allows an unauthenticated remote attacker to crash all active DTLS sessions on a listener.
A DTLS server listener uses a single shared dtls_packet_demux gen_server process to route incoming UDP datagrams to the correct connection handler. When a DTLS client reconnects rapidly from the same source address and port (sending multiple ClientHello messages in quick succession), a race condition in the demux's internal gb_trees key-value store causes a {key_exists, {old, Client}} crash, terminating the demux process. Because the demux is shared across all DTLS associations on that listener, its crash immediately kills every active DTLS session, not just the attacker's.
The attack is pre-authentication: the attacker only needs to send UDP datagrams containing valid ClientHello messages from the same source IP and port before the intermediate DOWN monitor message is processed by the gen_server. No credentials, no completed handshake, and no special configuration are required, and the crash can be repeated indefinitely to create a persistent denial of service for all clients of that listener.
This vulnerability is associated with program file lib/ssl/src/dtls_packet_demux.erl.
This issue affects OTP from OTP 25.3 before OTP 29.0.3, OTP 28.5.0.3 and OTP 27.3.4.14, corresponding to ssl from 10.9 before 11.7.3, 11.6.0.3 and 11.2.12.10.
References
| Link | Resource |
|---|---|
| https://cna.erlef.org/cves/CVE-2026-55950.html | Vendor Advisory |
| https://github.com/erlang/otp/commit/e44d2bf01c4473ef2ea7f09e3523cf96de6e4a04 | Patch |
| https://github.com/erlang/otp/security/advisories/GHSA-hwfc-5hf4-gvr3 | Vendor Advisory |
| https://osv.dev/vulnerability/EEF-CVE-2026-55950 | Third Party Advisory |
| https://www.erlang.org/doc/system/versions.html#order-of-versions | Release Notes |
Configurations
Configuration 1 (hide)
|
History
24 Jul 2026, 15:18
| Type | Values Removed | Values Added |
|---|---|---|
| Summary | (en) Time-of-check Time-of-use (TOCTOU) race condition vulnerability in Erlang/OTP ssl (dtls_packet_demux module) allows an unauthenticated remote attacker to crash all active DTLS sessions on a listener. A DTLS server listener uses a single shared dtls_packet_demux gen_server process to route incoming UDP datagrams to the correct connection handler. When a DTLS client reconnects rapidly from the same source address and port (sending multiple ClientHello messages in quick succession), a race condition in the demux's internal gb_trees key-value store causes a {key_exists, {old, Client}} crash, terminating the demux process. Because the demux is shared across all DTLS associations on that listener, its crash immediately kills every active DTLS session, not just the attacker's. The attack is pre-authentication: the attacker only needs to send UDP datagrams containing valid ClientHello messages from the same source IP and port before the intermediate DOWN monitor message is processed by the gen_server. No credentials, no completed handshake, and no special configuration are required, and the crash can be repeated indefinitely to create a persistent denial of service for all clients of that listener. This vulnerability is associated with program file lib/ssl/src/dtls_packet_demux.erl. This issue affects OTP from OTP 25.3 before OTP 29.0.3, OTP 28.5.0.3 and OTP 27.3.4.14, corresponding to ssl from 10.9 before 11.7.3, 11.6.0.3 and 11.2.12.10. |
07 Jul 2026, 14:45
| Type | Values Removed | Values Added |
|---|---|---|
| First Time |
Erlang erlang\/ssl
Erlang erlang\/otp Erlang |
|
| CPE | cpe:2.3:a:erlang:erlang\/otp:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* cpe:2.3:a:erlang:erlang\/ssl:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
|
| CVSS |
v2 : v3 : |
v2 : unknown
v3 : 5.9 |
| References | () https://cna.erlef.org/cves/CVE-2026-55950.html - Vendor Advisory | |
| References | () https://github.com/erlang/otp/commit/e44d2bf01c4473ef2ea7f09e3523cf96de6e4a04 - Patch | |
| References | () https://github.com/erlang/otp/security/advisories/GHSA-hwfc-5hf4-gvr3 - Vendor Advisory | |
| References | () https://osv.dev/vulnerability/EEF-CVE-2026-55950 - Third Party Advisory | |
| References | () https://www.erlang.org/doc/system/versions.html#order-of-versions - Release Notes |
02 Jul 2026, 17:17
| Type | Values Removed | Values Added |
|---|---|---|
| New CVE |
Information
Published : 2026-07-02 17:17
Updated : 2026-07-24 15:18
NVD link : CVE-2026-55950
Mitre link : CVE-2026-55950
CVE.ORG link : CVE-2026-55950
JSON object : View
Products Affected
erlang
- erlang\/ssl
- erlang\/otp
CWE
CWE-367
Time-of-check Time-of-use (TOCTOU) Race Condition