CVE-2026-32688
7.5 · HIGHOverview
CVE-2026-32688 is a high-severity vulnerability affecting elixir-plug plug.cowboy. It was published on April 27, 2026 and has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 7.5 (HIGH).
This vulnerability has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 7.5, rated HIGH. It can be exploited remotely over the network. No authentication or special privileges are required for exploitation.
Technical Description
Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling vulnerability in elixir-plug plug_cowboy allows unauthenticated remote denial of service via atom table exhaustion.
Plug.Cowboy.Conn.conn/1 in lib/plug/cowboy/conn.ex calls String.to_atom/1 on the value returned by :cowboy_req.scheme/1. For HTTP/2 connections, cowlib passes the client-supplied :scheme pseudo-header value through verbatim without validation. Each unique value permanently allocates a new entry in the BEAM atom table. Since atoms are never garbage-collected and the atom table has a fixed limit (default 1,048,576), an unauthenticated attacker can exhaust the table by sending HTTP/2 requests with unique :scheme values, causing the Erlang VM to abort with system_limit and taking down the entire node.
This vulnerability does not affect HTTP/1.1, where cowboy derives the scheme from the listener type rather than from a client-supplied header.
This issue affects plug_cowboy: from 2.0.0 before 2.8.1.
Remediation
Check the references section for vendor advisories and patches from elixir-plug. Update plug.cowboy to the latest patched version. If immediate patching is not possible, review the CVSS vector to understand the attack surface and apply compensating controls such as network segmentation or access restrictions.
Affected Products
| Vendor | Product | Versions | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| elixir-plug | plug.cowboy | >= 2.0.0, < 2.8.1 | Affected |
Frequently Asked Questions
What is CVE-2026-32688?
CVE-2026-32688 is a high-severity vulnerability affecting elixir-plug plug.cowboy. It was published on April 27, 2026 and has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 7.5 (HIGH).
How severe is CVE-2026-32688?
This vulnerability has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 7.5, rated HIGH. It can be exploited remotely over the network. No authentication or special privileges are required for exploitation.
How do I fix or remediate CVE-2026-32688?
Check the references section for vendor advisories and patches from elixir-plug. Update plug.cowboy to the latest patched version. If immediate patching is not possible, review the CVSS vector to understand the attack surface and apply compensating controls such as network segmentation or access restrictions.
How can CyberStrike help with CVE-2026-32688?
CyberStrike's AI-powered security agents can automatically detect CVE-2026-32688 across your infrastructure using autonomous pentesting, DAST scanning, and HackBrowser. The platform continuously monitors for known vulnerabilities and provides actionable remediation guidance prioritized by real-world exploitability.
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