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🛡️ CVE-2026-44018 — docling

🟡 CVSS 5.5 — Medium ✅ No Known Exploit CWE-409 OSV
5.5
CVSS Score
0 Low4 Medium7 High9 Critical10

Description

Docling: Unsafe Archive Extraction and XML Parsing in METS-GBS Backend

Impact

The METS-GBS backend's XML parsing and the input document format detection lacked security controls, enabling:

  • XML External Entity (XXE) attacks to read local files or cause denial of service
  • Decompression bombs (zip bombs) to exhaust memory and disk space
  • Unbounded archive extraction consuming system resources

An attacker could craft malicious METS-GBS archives that, when processed, could read sensitive files, exhaust system resources, or cause application crashes.

Patches

Fixed in version 2.91.0. The fix implements:

  • Secure XML parsing with resolve_entities=False, load_dtd=False, and no_network=True
  • Configurable limits: 300 MB total extraction size, 10 MB per file, 1000 member count
  • Cumulative size tracking across all extractions
  • Early termination when limits are exceeded
  • Secure format detection of METS-GBS tar archives with _detect_mets_gbs() method: maximum file size (10 MB per file), maximum member count (1000 members), and exception handling to gracefully fail when limits are exceeded

Workarounds

Avoid processing METS-GBS archives from untrusted sources. If necessary, pre-validate archives in an isolated environment with resource limits.

References

  • Fix release: [v2.91.0](https://github.com/docling-project/docling/releases/tag/v2.91.0)

How this vulnerability can be exploited

This issue can be reached with local access to the system, attack complexity is low, an attacker needs no privileges on the target. A user must be tricked into taking some action. The scope is unchanged, so the impact stays within the vulnerable component. Rated impact: confidentiality high, integrity none, availability high.

CVSS metrics in full

The score comes from this vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:H

  • Attack vector: Local — a local account, shell or session on the host is needed.
  • Attack complexity: Low — the attack works reliably, with no preparation.
  • Privileges required: None — an unauthenticated stranger can try it.
  • User interaction: Required — someone has to click, open or visit something.
  • Scope: Unchanged — the damage stays inside the vulnerable component.
  • Confidentiality impact: High — total loss, or loss the attacker controls.
  • Integrity impact: None.
  • Availability impact: High — total loss, or loss the attacker controls.

Weakness class

CVE-2026-44018 is classified as CWE-409: Improper Handling of Highly Compressed Data (Data Amplification). The product does not handle or incorrectly handles a compressed input with a very high compression ratio that produces a large output.

Affected software

CVE-2026-44018 is recorded against 1 package.

  • docling (from 2.45.0 up to 2.91.0)

Timeline and source

Published on 26 June 2026 and last revised on 21 July 2026. No public exploit is currently recorded for this entry. A vendor advisory or fix has been published. Record sourced from OSV.

References

github.com (Advisory)
github.com (Fix)

Other advisories for this package

docling has other advisories on record. If you are patching this one, these are worth checking on the same host:

Same weakness in other software

These advisories are the same class of weakness (CWE-409: Improper Handling of Highly Compressed Data (Data Amplification)) in other software:

Details

Severity MEDIUM
CVSS Score 5.5
CVSS Vector CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:H
CWE CWE-409
Public Exploit ✅ No
Source OSV
Published 2026-06-26
Updated 2026-08-20
Modified 2026-07-21

Affected Packages

Software From version Fixed in
docling 2.45.0 2.91.0

Similar Threats

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ⓘ Data Notice: The information presented above has been compiled from publicly available internet sources. Boteraser aggregates this data solely for informational purposes and does not independently classify, evaluate, or endorse any findings about the vulnerabilities listed. The accuracy and completeness of this information is the sole responsibility of the original publishers. Boteraser and its operators accept no liability for any decisions made based on this data.

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