CVE-2026-72686
Uncontrolled Recursion in Elasticsearch Leading to Denial of Service
Description
A flaw in Elasticsearch allows a low-privileged authenticated user to submit a single request containing a crafted user-supplied input. A specific internal component validates the input using a recursive routine and applies no bound to the length of the value being validated, so the validation causes the thread to exhaust its stack. The resulting fatal error is not handled by the surrounding execution paths and terminates the affected node process, producing a denial of service.
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 patched version.
- Apply vendor-provided security updates.
- Restart affected Elasticsearch nodes.
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-2026-72686.
| URL | Resource |
|---|---|
| https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-8-19-20-9-4-5-9-5-1-security-update-esa-2026-78/389505 |
CWE - Common Weakness Enumeration
While CVE identifies
specific instances of vulnerabilities, CWE categorizes the common flaws or
weaknesses that can lead to vulnerabilities. CVE-2026-72686 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-2026-72686
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-2026-72686 vulnerability anywhere in the article.
The following table lists the changes that have been made to the
CVE-2026-72686 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-2026-72686', 'role': 'CISA Coordinator', 'options': [{'exploitation': 'none'}, {'automatable': 'no'}, {'technicalImpact': 'partial'}], 'version': '2.0.3', 'timestamp': '2026-08-13T20:23:08.481932Z'} -
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'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': '9.5.0', 'versionType': 'semver'}], 'defaultStatus': 'unaffected'}] Added Description A flaw in Elasticsearch allows a low-privileged authenticated user to submit a single request containing a crafted user-supplied input. A specific internal component validates the input using a recursive routine and applies no bound to the length of the value being validated, so the validation causes the thread to exhaust its stack. The resulting fatal error is not handled by the surrounding execution paths and terminates the affected node process, producing a denial of service. 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-8-19-20-9-4-5-9-5-1-security-update-esa-2026-78/389505