Uncontrolled recursion in DCMTK xml2dcm allows denial of service
Summary
| CVE | CVE-2026-44036 |
|---|---|
| State | PUBLISHED |
| Assigner | securin |
| Source Priority | CVE Program / NVD first with legacy fallback |
| Published | 2026-10-08 13:17:17 UTC |
| Updated | 2026-10-08 21:10:00 UTC |
| Description | Uncontrolled mutual recursion between DcmXMLParseHelper::parseDataSet() and DcmXMLParseHelper::parseSequence() in the XML-to-DICOM converter (dcmdata/libdcxml/xml2dcm.cc) of OFFIS DCMTK 3.7.0 allows an attacker to cause a denial of service (stack exhaustion and process crash) via a crafted XML file with deeply nested sequence and item elements. The xml2dcm tool and any service that converts untrusted XML to DICOM with this code are affected. The issue is fixed in commit 87f256d73e30656a822bf7d76d1cf1d9bb693954. |
Risk And Classification
Primary CVSS: v4.0 6.8 MEDIUM from 33c584b5-0579-4c06-b2a0-8d8329fcab9c
CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X
EPSS: 0.001050000 probability, percentile 0.010130000 (date 2026-10-10)
Problem Types: CWE-674 | CWE-674 CWE-674 Uncontrolled Recursion
| Version | Source | Type | Score | Severity | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4.0 | 33c584b5-0579-4c06-b2a0-8d8329fcab9c | Secondary | 6.8 | MEDIUM | CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/C... |
| 4.0 | CNA | CVSS | 6.8 | MEDIUM | CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N |
| 3.1 | 33c584b5-0579-4c06-b2a0-8d8329fcab9c | Secondary | 5.5 | MEDIUM | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H |
| 3.1 | CNA | CVSS | 5.5 | MEDIUM | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H |
CVSS v4.0 Breakdown
CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X
CVSS v3.1 Breakdown
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Vendor Declared Affected Products
References
| Reference | Source | Link | Tags |
|---|---|---|---|
| github.com/DCMTK/dcmtk/commit/87f256d73e30656a822bf7d76d1cf1d9bb693954 | 33c584b5-0579-4c06-b2a0-8d8329fcab9c | github.com | |
| support.dcmtk.org/redmine/issues/1224 | 33c584b5-0579-4c06-b2a0-8d8329fcab9c | support.dcmtk.org | |
| CVE Program record | CVE.ORG | www.cve.org | canonical |
| NVD vulnerability detail | NVD | nvd.nist.gov | canonical, analysis |
Vendor Comments And Credit
Discovery Credit
CNA: Arjun Basnet from Securin (en)
Additional Advisory Data
| Source | Time | Event |
|---|---|---|
| CNA | 2026-05-25T00:00:00.000Z | CVE ID shared with the vendor |
| CNA | 2026-06-16T00:00:00.000Z | Fix committed by the vendor |
| CNA | 2026-06-19T00:00:00.000Z | Vendor approved publication |
Solutions
CNA: Update to a DCMTK version that contains commit 87f256d73e30656a822bf7d76d1cf1d9bb693954. As of the publication date, no tagged release after DCMTK 3.7.0 includes this fix, so apply the commit or build from the current master branch.