Docling: Unsafe XML Entity Expansion in USPTO Patent Backend

MITRE NVD CVE.ORG JSON API

Summary

CVECVE-2026-44020
StatePUBLISHED
AssignerGitHub_M
Source PriorityCVE Program / NVD first with legacy fallback
Published2026-06-24 18:17:17 UTC
Updated2026-07-15 02:21:49 UTC
DescriptionDocling simplifies document processing by parsing diverse formats and providing integrations with the generative AI ecosystem. From 2.13.0 until 2.74.0, the USPTO patent XML parser used the standard xml.sax.parseString() without protection against XML External Entity (XXE) attacks. An attacker could craft malicious USPTO patent XML files with external entity references that could read arbitrary files from the server filesystem, perform Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) attacks, or cause denial of service through entity expansion (Billion Laughs attack). The vulnerability affects three USPTO patent format parsers: ICE (v4.x), Grant v2.5, and Application v1.x. This vulnerability is fixed in 2.74.0.

Risk And Classification

Primary CVSS: v3.1 9.4 CRITICAL from ADP

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:L/A:H

EPSS: 0.003340000 probability, percentile 0.256190000 (date 2026-07-18)

Problem Types: CWE-776 | CWE-611 | CWE-776 CWE-776: Improper Restriction of Recursive Entity References in DTDs ('XML Entity Expansion') | CWE-611 Improper Restriction of XML External Entity Reference

VersionSourceTypeScoreSeverityVector
3.1ADPCVSS9.4CRITICALCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:L/A:H
3.1[email protected]Secondary7.5HIGHCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
3.10b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46cSecondary9.4CRITICALCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:L/A:H
3.1CNADECLARED7.5HIGHCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

CVSS v3.1 Breakdown

Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
None
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
Low
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:L/A:H

NVD Known Affected Configurations (CPE 2.3)

TypeVendorProductVersionUpdateEditionLanguage
Application Docling Docling All All All All

Vendor Declared Affected Products

SourceVendorProductVersionPlatforms
CNA Docling-project Docling affected >= 2.13.0, < 2.74.0 Not specified
ADP Red Hat Red Hat OpenShift AI RHOAI Not specified Not specified

References

ReferenceSourceLinkTags
bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c bugzilla.redhat.com
security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-44020.json 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c security.access.redhat.com
access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-44020 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c access.redhat.com
github.com/docling-project/docling/security/advisories/GHSA-m88r-rg27-5xfg [email protected] github.com Mitigation, Patch, Vendor Advisory
CVE Program record CVE.ORG www.cve.org canonical
NVD vulnerability detail NVD nvd.nist.gov canonical, analysis

Additional Advisory Data

SourceTimeEvent
ADP2026-06-24T18:12:41.219ZReported to Red Hat.
ADP2026-06-24T17:45:46.644ZMade public.

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