CVE-2019-16764

The use of `String.to_atom/1` in PowAssent is susceptible to denial of service attacks. In `PowAssent.Phoenix.AuthorizationController` a value is fetched from the user provided params, and `String.to_atom/1` is used to convert the binary value to an atom so it can be used to fetch the provider configuration value. This is unsafe as it is user provided data, and can be used to fill up the whole atom table of ~1M which will cause the app to crash.

• CWE-400

• http://erlang.org/doc/efficiency_guide/commoncaveats.html#list_to_atom-1Product
• https://github.com/pow-auth/pow_assent/commit/026105eeecc0e3c2f807e7109e745ea93c0fd9cfPatch
• https://github.com/pow-auth/pow_assent/security/advisories/GHSA-368c-xvrv-x986Third Party Advisory
• https://hex.pm/packages/pow_assentRelease Notes
• http://erlang.org/doc/efficiency_guide/commoncaveats.html#list_to_atom-1Product
• https://github.com/pow-auth/pow_assent/commit/026105eeecc0e3c2f807e7109e745ea93c0fd9cfPatch
• https://github.com/pow-auth/pow_assent/security/advisories/GHSA-368c-xvrv-x986Third Party Advisory
• https://hex.pm/packages/pow_assentRelease Notes

Published

Nov 25, 2019

Last Modified

Jun 17, 2026

Status

Modified

• How Strix found a critical auth bypass in etcdStrix autonomously discovered a critical authentication bypass in etcd, later designated CVE-2026-33413.
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