Medium severity · published Jul 2, 2026
CVE-2026-54887
DTLS server cookie bypass during startup window due to empty initial cookie secret
4.8
CVSS
0.2%
EPSS
No
On KEV
Description
Use of Default Cryptographic Key vulnerability in Erlang/OTP ssl (DTLS server) allows predictable DTLS cookie computation during the startup window, enabling source address verification bypass. On DTLS server startup, dtls_server_connection:initial_hello/3 initializes previous_cookie_secret to the empty binary (<<>>) instead of a random value. Because HMAC with an empty key is deterministic, anyone who observes the plaintext ClientHello can compute dtls_handshake:cookie(<<>>, IP, Port, Hello) and forge a valid DTLS cookie before the first rotation of the cookie secret. The DTLS cookie (RFC 6347 §4.2.1) is a denial-of-service mitigation that prevents spoofed source IPs from forcing the server to allocate state and perform expensive cryptographic operations; it is not an authentication mechanism. During the window from server startup until the first secret rotation (0 to 15 seconds), an attacker who can observe the plaintext ClientHello can bypass the source address verification, enabling DTLS handshake amplification with spoofed source addresses. This vulnerability is associated with program file lib/ssl/src/dtls_server_connection.erl and program routine dtls_server_connection:initial_hello/3. This issue affects OTP from OTP 20.0 before OTP 29.0.3, OTP 28.5.0.3 and OTP 27.3.4.14, corresponding to ssl from 8.2 before 11.7.3, 11.6.0.3 and 11.2.12.10.
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
High
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
Low
Availability
None
Scope
Unchanged
Exploitation
Is it being used?
Exploit prediction (EPSS)0.2% · higher than 15% of CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo evidence yet
CISA KEVNot listed
Ransomware campaign useNot known
Affected products
Which versions
OT
OTP · Erlang
8.2; 20.0; e594aad2f87aab39e99fccf9e021bc94e0bbf7d4 before 888e3bcd72d5406016b9e0de741026bc2a6f114d · source: vendor
ER
Erlang/otp · Erlang
20.0 before 27.3.4.14; 28.0 before 28.5.0.3; 29.0 before 29.0.3 · source: NVD
ER
Erlang/ssl · Erlang
8.2 before 11.2.12.10; 11.3 before 11.6.0.3; 11.7 before 11.7.3 · source: NVD
Affected product
OT
OTP
Erlang
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