CVE-2026-72636
Uncontrolled Recursion in Elasticsearch Wildcard Matching Leading to Denial of Service
Description
Uncontrolled Recursion (CWE-674) in the Elasticsearch wildcard matching helper can lead to a denial of service via Excessive Allocation (CAPEC-130). The matcher used to resolve wildcard patterns against names is implemented recursively and had no bound on recursion depth or on the total number of match operations performed. A search request containing a wildcard pattern with a large number of wildcard groups, evaluated against a sufficiently long name, exhausts the thread stack. Elasticsearch treats a stack overflow as an unrecoverable condition and shuts the node down, so the request terminates the affected node rather than failing gracefully.
INFO
Published Date :
Aug. 13, 2026, 8:17 p.m.
Last Modified :
Aug. 13, 2026, 9:18 p.m.
Remotely Exploit :
Yes !
Source :
[email protected]
CVSS Scores
| Score | Version | Severity | Vector | Exploitability Score | Impact Score | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CVSS | 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0 | |||||
| CVSS 3.1 | MEDIUM | 271b6943-45a9-4f3a-ab4e-976f3fa05b5a | ||||
| CVSS 3.1 | MEDIUM | [email protected] | ||||
| CVSS 3.1 | MEDIUM | MITRE-CVE |
Solution
- Update Elasticsearch to a version with recursion bounds.
- Configure limits for wildcard query depth.
- Implement strict input validation for wildcard patterns.
- Monitor resource usage for search requests.
References to Advisories, Solutions, and Tools
Here, you will find a curated list of external links that provide in-depth
information, practical solutions, and valuable tools related to
CVE-2026-72636.
| URL | Resource |
|---|---|
| https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-8-19-20-9-4-5-security-update-esa-2026-133/389499 |
CWE - Common Weakness Enumeration
While CVE identifies
specific instances of vulnerabilities, CWE categorizes the common flaws or
weaknesses that can lead to vulnerabilities. CVE-2026-72636 is
associated with the following CWEs:
Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)
Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification
(CAPEC)
stores attack patterns, which are descriptions of the common attributes and
approaches employed by adversaries to exploit the CVE-2026-72636
weaknesses.
We scan GitHub repositories to detect new proof-of-concept exploits. Following list is a collection of public exploits and proof-of-concepts, which have been published on GitHub (sorted by the most recently updated).
Results are limited to the first 15 repositories due to potential performance issues.
The following list is the news that have been mention
CVE-2026-72636 vulnerability anywhere in the article.
The following table lists the changes that have been made to the
CVE-2026-72636 vulnerability over time.
Vulnerability history details can be useful for understanding the evolution of a vulnerability, and for identifying the most recent changes that may impact the vulnerability's severity, exploitability, or other characteristics.
-
CVE Modified by 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0
Aug. 13, 2026
Action Type Old Value New Value Added SSVC {'id': 'CVE-2026-72636', 'role': 'CISA Coordinator', 'options': [{'exploitation': 'none'}, {'automatable': 'no'}, {'technicalImpact': 'partial'}], 'version': '2.0.3', 'timestamp': '2026-08-13T19:29:20.698857Z'} -
New CVE Received by [email protected]
Aug. 13, 2026
Action Type Old Value New Value Added Affected [{'vendor': 'Elastic', 'product': 'Elasticsearch', 'versions': [{'status': 'affected', 'version': '8.0.0', 'versionType': 'semver', 'lessThanOrEqual': '8.19.19'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': '9.0.0', 'versionType': 'semver', 'lessThanOrEqual': '9.4.4'}], 'defaultStatus': 'unaffected'}] Added Description Uncontrolled Recursion (CWE-674) in the Elasticsearch wildcard matching helper can lead to a denial of service via Excessive Allocation (CAPEC-130). The matcher used to resolve wildcard patterns against names is implemented recursively and had no bound on recursion depth or on the total number of match operations performed. A search request containing a wildcard pattern with a large number of wildcard groups, evaluated against a sufficiently long name, exhausts the thread stack. Elasticsearch treats a stack overflow as an unrecoverable condition and shuts the node down, so the request terminates the affected node rather than failing gracefully. Added CVSS V3.1 AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H Added CWE CWE-674 Added Reference https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-8-19-20-9-4-5-security-update-esa-2026-133/389499