CVE-2026-105668: hexpm hex Protection Mechanism Failure

Vulnerability summary

CVE-2026-105668 is a high (CVSS 7.1) Protection Mechanism Failure vulnerability in hexpm hex. EPSS estimates a 0.33% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 24.4% of scored vulnerabilities.

Timeline

1. 12-10-2026
   PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
2. 16-10-2026
   Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.

Description

Protection Mechanism Failure vulnerability in hexpm hex allows the owner of a package, or an attacker who has taken over the owner's account, to get a newly published release past the release-age cooldown. The cooldown (cooldown config, HEX_COOLDOWN) withholds versions younger than the configured age during dependency resolution. When the release of a package locked in mix.lock is retired or has a security advisory, Hex.RemoteConverger.build_cooldown_bypass/3 and Hex.RemoteConverger.unsafe_lock_bypass/1 lift the cooldown for every version of that package and of every package the locked release depends on, so that mix deps.update can move off the unsafe release. Retiring a release needs the same package owner permission as publishing one. An attacker who publishes a malicious release can retire the currently locked release, and the next mix deps.update that unlocks the package selects the new release regardless of its age. Hex.Registry.Cooldown.versions/2 checks the bypass by package name alone, so the bypass also covers packages with the same name in other repositories. Cooldown configured through an organization dependency policy is not affected. This issue affects hex: from 2.5.0 before 2.5.2.

• CWE-693Protection Mechanism FailureThe product does not use or incorrectly uses a protection mechanism that provides sufficient defense against directed attacks against the product.