CVE-2026-69659 — Memory exhaustion via unbounded deserialization of keyset pagination cursors in Ash.Page.Keyset
Uncontrolled Resource Consumption vulnerability in ash-project ash allows an attacker to exhaust the memory of the node via a crafted keyset pagination cursor. Read actions with keyset pagination deserialize the client-supplied page[:after] or page[:before] cursor in decode_values/2 in lib/ash/page/keyset.ex, which base64-decodes the value and passes it to :erlang.binary_to_term/2 without bounding its size. The Erlang external term format supports zlib-compressed payloads, which the decoder inflates transparently, so a cursor of a few kilobytes can allocate tens of megabytes of heap in a single call. Ash itself only ever encodes cursors uncompressed, so the decoder accepts a term shape its encoder never produces. Concurrent requests aggregate these allocations and can terminate the node. This issue affects ash: from 1.17.0 before 3.31.1.
Who exploits it and how urgent it is
A 0–100 score combining confirmed exploitation, ransomware and APT use, public exploits, EPSS and severity.
How the score was calculated
- EPSS 0.4% (30-day exploitation probability)+4
- Technical severity (medium)+3
- CISA SSVC: exploitation "poc"+5
The score orders the patch queue; it does not replace your asset context (internet exposure, criticality, compensating controls).
Triage
Is it exploited, how likely is exploitation, what does it touch, and how severe do the sources call it.
CISA SSVC assessment CISA
Three decision points CISA publishes for the CVEs it assesses (SSVC 2.0.3). A stakeholder decision, not a severity score.
Remediation
Fixes and mitigations documented by the sources — linked to the original advisory.
- Documented patch — github.com (NIST National Vulnerability Database)
- Documented patch — github.com (NIST National Vulnerability Database)
- Documented patch — osv.dev (NIST National Vulnerability Database)
First 24 hours
Ordered from the record’s own fields — exposure first, because you cannot patch what you have not found. A rule-generated starting point.
- Identify exposed assets running the affected vendor/product/version combinations (Ash-hq Ash Framework, Ash-project Ash).
- Apply the fixed version or the patch documented under Remediation.
- Search available logs for exploit probes matching the vulnerability class (insecure deserialization), errors and authentication anomalies.
Affected scope
Vendor, product and versions as the sources word them.
| Vendor | Product | Versions | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ash-hq | Ash Framework | ≥ 1.17.0 and < 3.31.1 | Vulnerable | NIST National Vulnerability Database |
| Ash-project | Ash | ≥ 1.17.0 and < 3.31.1≥ f8fadc67e67c955bb68b3a8d642be13e2b7e8ca9 and < 1816b103af975221210478d61db20adcea700319 | Vulnerable | CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP |
Attack characteristics
The CVSS vector, decoded. It describes the attack, not your exposure to it.
Every base score collected
Sources score independently and may disagree; each row says who scored it and under which version.
| Score | Version | Severity | Expl. | Impact | Scored by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5.9 | CVSS 4.0 | Medium | — | — | 6b3ad84c-e1a6-4bf7-a703-f496b71e49db via NIST National Vulnerability Database |
| 5.9 | CVSS 4.0 | Medium | — | — | EEF via CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP |
| 5.5 | CVSS 3.1 | Medium | 1.8 | 3.6 | nvd@nist.gov via NIST National Vulnerability Database |
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H (score shown at the top: nvd@nist.gov) Weakness MITRE
Weakness class according to MITRE’s CWE catalog.
Detection
Read off the CVSS vector and the weakness class. Starting points, not tested rules.
- Local/physical vector: focus on endpoint telemetry (EDR) from affected hosts.
- Monitor serialized objects in requests and unexpected processes spawned by the runtime.
Timeline
What happened to this CVE, newest first.
- 2026
- Affected products added · ash-project/ash
- SSVC assessment updated
- Record published
- Fix documented
- CVSS changed · 5.5
- Source status changed · → Analyzed
- Record created in this database
- CVE published
Source activity
Repeated readings are counted rather than listed.
- 1× Official description updated · Oct 15, 2026 – Oct 15, 2026
References
4 on the record
Elsewhere on this site
Related CVEs (same products)
- Medium CVE-2026-101028 Ash.count, Ash.exists and Ash.aggregate skip related resources' read policies in filters and sorts 7d
- High CVE-2026-94201 Filtering an :atom attribute with unsafe_to_atom? can exhaust the BEAM atom table in Ash 10d
- Medium CVE-2026-93477 Private action arguments can be set by user input on the bulk destroy and bulk update paths in Ash 21d
- Medium CVE-2026-86338 Ash field policies do not filter-nil forbidden calculations and aggregates, enabling an information-disclosure oracle Sep 16, 2026
- Medium CVE-2026-82752 Ash string length constraints count graphemes, so a combining-mark string of any size passes max_length Sep 5, 2026
- Medium CVE-2026-82747 Ash.Policy.Authorizer returns records denied by a runtime read policy to any actor Sep 1, 2026
Not in any source we poll
Listed rather than left blank: an empty field and an unmeasured one look identical on screen, and only one is a reason to look elsewhere.
- No confirmed IOCs, IP addresses, domains, file hashes, or malware artifacts supplied.
- No organization-specific asset inventory, compensating-control status, or patch deployment evidence supplied.
- No exploit packet captures, log samples, or incident case IDs supplied.
Answered from this record
Text assembled only from the fields above — no additional claims.
What should defenders know first?
CVE-2026-69659 is "Memory exhaustion via unbounded deserialization of keyset pagination cursors in Ash.Page.Keyset", rated Medium. It affects Ash Framework (Ash-hq); versions are in the scope table. It is not in CISA KEV, which does not rule out exploitation. CVSS 5.5 describes technical severity. EPSS 0.36% estimates the probability of exploitation in 30 days; neither replaces your asset context. First verify whether exposed or business-critical assets run the affected versions, apply vendor fixes or mitigations, and preserve logs for review.
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