CVE-2026-44020

Docling: Unsafe XML Entity Expansion in USPTO Patent Backend

HIGH
7.5
CVSS Score
Published: June 24, 2026 at 05:45 PM UTC
Updated: October 25, 2026 at 10:10 PM UTC
1 product affected across 1 vendorDocling

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Severity
HIGH7.5
Exploit prediction
EPSS 0.6%
SSVC
No known exploit

Description

Docling 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.

Affected

Our own answer: ranges merged, affected separated from platform-only, with confidence and review flags.

2.13.0 ≤ v < 2.74.0
Affected range stops below 2.74.0, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement

Remediation

No guide yet

No remediation guidance has been written for this CVE yet. What the record does show:

References (5)

x_refsource_CONFIRMMitigationPatchVendor Advisory
Source: cverecord
https://github.com/docling-project/docling/security/advisories/GHSA-m88r-rg27-5xfg
Source: 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c
https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-44020
Source: 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2492456
Source: 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:60520

SSVC — Action Prioritization

SSVCNo known exploitAutomatablePartial impact

SSVC signals action urgency (what to patch first), separate from CVSS which measures severity.

CVSS

7.5HIGHGitHub_M
Attack Vector
NETWORK
Complexity
LOW
Privileges
NONE
User Interaction
NONE
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality
NONE
Integrity
NONE
Availability
HIGH
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusMODIFIED
CWE
CWE-776CWE-611

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