What is CVE-2026-68956?

CVE-2026-68956 is SSH daemon allocates unbounded idle session channels, bypassing max_channels. The supplied enrichment data classifies it as Denial of Service mapped to CWE-770 CWE-770.

Which versions are affected?

Affected product and version evidence is listed in the product table above. Current public advisories should be checked for exact version scope before patch targeting is finalized.

Is there active exploitation?

Active exploitation is not confirmed from current sources for CVE-2026-68956. If exploitation is not confirmed from current sources, teams should document that status and continue monitoring KEV, vendor, and telemetry updates.

No. CVE-2026-68956 is not listed in CISA KEV in the supplied enrichment data. KEV status should be monitored because it can change after initial disclosure or after exploitation becomes publicly confirmed.

Is there a public exploit?

1 public PoC repositories reported; 0 marked weaponized in current dataset. Public exploit or PoC availability should raise triage priority, especially for exposed or business-critical systems.

How can defenders detect it?

Start with web/proxy/WAF logs, application logs, network IDS/IPS where available. Look for vulnerability-class behavior, product errors, suspicious authentication events, exploit probes, and abnormal process activity based only on evidence that applies to the affected product.

How should teams prioritize it?

Prioritize CVE-2026-68956 using CVSS 7.1, EPSS 0%, KEV status, public PoC status, and asset exposure. Internet-facing, privileged, or business-critical deployments should be handled first.

Are workarounds available?

The supplied mitigation guidance says to apply vendor patches and restrict external exposure until fixed. Fixed-version evidence is listed in the mitigation section above.

Which threat actors are linked publicly?

No public threat actor linkage is confirmed from current sources. Do not attribute exploitation to a threat actor unless the source evidence explicitly supports that linkage.

What should be done in the next 24 hours?

Identify exposed assets running affected vendor/product/version combinations. Prioritize based on EPSS, PoC availability, and external exposure. Search available logs for exploit probes, errors, authentication anomalies, or suspicious child processes matching the vulnerability class. Open remediation tickets with affected assets, owners, evidence status, and detection coverage so decisions are traceable.

highDenial of Servicepublic exploit

CVE-2026-68956

CVE-2026-68956 — SSH daemon allocates unbounded idle session channels, bypassing max_channels

Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling vulnerability in Erlang/OTP ssh allows an authenticated remote attacker to exhaust node memory by repeatedly opening session channels that are never assigned a handler. The "session" clause of ssh_connection:handle_msg/4 checks only minimal_remote_max_packet_size before calling setup_session/5, which unconditionally builds a #channel{} record and stores it in the ETS channel cache. The max_channels daemon option is consulted only by ssh_channel_sup:max_num_channels_not_exceeded/2, which counts supervisor children, so a channel that never gets a shell, exec, or subsystem handler is invisible to the limit and setting the option to a finite value does not mitigate the attack. RFC 4254 section 5.1 permits many session channels per connection, and each record costs only a few hundred bytes, so a single authenticated connection can accumulate channels until the node runs out of memory and the emulator terminates, affecting every application on it. No file contents, credentials, or write access are obtainable. This issue affects OTP from OTP 17.0 before OTP 27.3.4.18, OTP 28.5.0.7, and OTP 29.1.1, corresponding to ssh from 3.0.1 before 5.2.11.13, 5.5.2.6, and 6.0.6. Whether OTP before OTP 17.0, corresponding to ssh before 3.0.1, is affected is unknown.

Published Sep 22, 2026Updated Sep 22, 2026Sources: NVD, Erlang (CNA), GitHub, SOCRadar CTI

Triage

Is it exploited, how likely is exploitation, what does it touch, and how severe do the scoring sources call it.

Exploitation

Exploit code

public exploit, none observed

EPSS

ahead of 0% of scored CVEs

Affects

Erlang

3 products listed

CVSS base

7.1

high

Remediation

The vendor's own words where we have them.

Upgrade OTP to a fixed release. Apply vendor patches per advisory and restrict external exposure of the affected component until patched.

First 24 hours

Ordered from the record's own fields — exposure first, because you cannot patch what you have not found.

Identify exposed assets running affected vendor/product/version combinations.
Prioritize based on EPSS, PoC availability, and external exposure.
Search available logs for exploit probes, errors, authentication anomalies, or suspicious child processes matching the vulnerability class.

Affected scope

Vendor, product and version as the advisories word them.

Vendor	Product	Versions	Status
Erlang	OTP	17.0	Vulnerable
Erlang	OTP	3.0.1	Vulnerable
Erlang	OTP	84adefa331c4159d432d22840663c38f155cd4c1	Vulnerable

Attack characteristics

The CVSS vector, decoded. It describes the attack, not your exposure to it.

Attack Complexity

Low

Attack Vector

Network

Privileges Req

Low

User Interaction

None

Every base score collected

Sources score independently and disagree; each row says who scored it and under which version.

Score	Version	Severity	Expl.	Impact	Source
7.1	CVSS 4.0	high	—	—	Erlang (CNA)

CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

What this weakness leads to

MITRE's own consequences and mitigations for the weakness class — the authority's wording, not guidance derived from the CVSS vector.

MITRE

CWE-770 · Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling

DoS: Resource Consumption (CPU)
DoS: Resource Consumption (Memory)
DoS: Resource Consumption (Other)

Mitigation: Clearly specify the minimum and maximum expectations for capabilities, and dictate which behaviors are acceptable when resource allocation reaches limits.

Weakness & attack patterns

CWE-770

Attack patterns reported against this CVE. The ATT&CK techniques below are inferred from its weakness class.

CAPEC-125 · FloodingCAPEC-130 · Excessive AllocationCAPEC-147 · XML Ping of the DeathCAPEC-197 · XML Entity ExpansionCAPEC-229 · Serialized Data Parameter BlowupCAPEC-230 · XML Nested PayloadsCAPEC-231 · Oversized Serialized Data PayloadsCAPEC-469 · HTTP DoSCAPEC-482 · TCP FloodCAPEC-486 · UDP FloodCAPEC-487 · ICMP FloodCAPEC-488 · HTTP Flood

T1498.001Network Denial of Service: Direct Network Flood
T1499Endpoint Denial of Service
T1499.003Endpoint Denial of Service: Application Exhaustion Flood

Public exploit

Capability, not use: code existing is a different claim from anyone running it.

Repositories

Detection

Read off the CVSS vector and the weakness class. Starting points, not rules we have tested.

Search application, proxy, and WAF logs for requests touching /OTP, /4, /5, /2.
Prioritize edge telemetry for network-reachable OTP.
Monitor for scanner or exploit-pattern traffic after 1 public PoC repositories were reported.

web/proxy/WAF logsapplication logsnetwork IDS/IPS

Timeline

What happened to this CVE, newest first — with the readings a source repeats on a schedule counted underneath rather than listed.

2026
Added · CVSS 3.1 7.1 (AV:N)
Sep 22, 2026 · NVD
Initial · CVE published
Sep 22, 2026 · NVD
CVE published by MITRE.
Sep 22, 2026 · SOCRadar CTI

References

8 on the record

cna.erlef.org/cves/CVE-2026-68956.html
Vendor Advisory, Mitre
github.com/erlang/otp/commit/79c2d2be17d902c5f53969b5806b725efda831be
Exploit, Third Party Advisory, Mitre
github.com/erlang/otp/commit/e18100975f0e5a8d59d02de00df12247a91b443b
Exploit, Third Party Advisory, Mitre
github.com/erlang/otp/commit/e2bbad0107bba41491a4d549686fd023db8740da
Exploit, Third Party Advisory, Mitre
github.com/erlang/otp/security/advisories/GHSA-qhcm-px9c-rvfh
Exploit, Third Party Advisory, Mitre
osv.dev/vulnerability/EEF-CVE-2026-68956
Vendor Advisory
www.erlang.org/doc/system/versions.html#order-of-versions
Vendor Advisory
www.erlang.org/doc/system/versions.html%23order-of-versions
Mitre

Elsewhere on this site

Erlangevery CVE for this vendor
Denial of Servicesame class
CWE-770other pages naming this weakness

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 record1

What should defenders know first?

CVE-2026-68956 is SSH daemon allocates unbounded idle session channels, bypassing max_channels, a high vulnerability affecting OTP from Erlang. The current evidence does not list it in CISA KEV, and the exploit status is: Active exploitation is not confirmed from current sources for CVE-2026-68956. Public exploit evidence is: 1 public PoC repositories reported; 0 marked weaponized in current dataset. The affected-version evidence is listed in the key facts and affected products tables. Defenders should first verify whether exposed or business-critical assets run those versions, then apply vendor patches or mitigations, restrict reachable attack surface, and preserve logs for detection review. CVSS 7.1 describes technical severity, while EPSS 0% helps estimate near-term exploit likelihood; neither replaces asset context. Unknown fields should remain explicit in tickets, and threat actor, IOC, victimology, or payload claims should not be added unless a cited source supports them. Monitor CISA KEV, vendor advisories, NVD changes, public PoC repositories, and internal telemetry for update triggers.