CVE-2026-72647
Description
A flaw was found in Elasticsearch. An authenticated user with read privileges on a single index can submit a specially crafted search request. This request, containing deeply nested serialized data, is processed without a depth limit, leading to uncontrolled recursion. This can exhaust the thread stack and terminate the affected node, resulting in a denial of service.
Statement
This flaw has a Moderate impact. An uncontrolled recursion vulnerability exists in Elasticsearch's search API retriever framework, where a deeply nested search request is processed without a depth limit. A remote, authenticated attacker with read-level index access can send a specially crafted search request that exhausts the thread stack and terminates the affected Elasticsearch node, resulting in denial of service. Red Hat products shipping Elasticsearch versions prior to 8.0.0 are not affected, as the vulnerable code was introduced in that version.
Mitigation
Mitigation for this issue is either not available or the currently available options do not meet the Red Hat Product Security criteria comprising ease of use and deployment, applicability to widespread installation base, or stability.
Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Score Details
Info alert:Important note
CVSS scores for open source components depend on vendor-specific factors (e.g. version or build chain). Therefore, Red Hat's score and impact rating can be different from NVD and other vendors. Red Hat remains the authoritative CVE Naming Authority (CNA) source for its products and services (see Red Hat classifications).
The following CVSS metrics and score provided are preliminary and subject to review.
CVSS v3 Score Breakdown
| Red Hat | NVD | cve.org | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base Score | 6.5 | N/A | 6.5 |
| Attack Vector | Network | N/A | Network |
| Attack Complexity | Low | N/A | Low |
| Privileges Required | Low | N/A | Low |
| User Interaction | None | N/A | None |
| Scope | Unchanged | N/A | Unchanged |
| Confidentiality | None | N/A | None |
| Integrity Impact | None | N/A | None |
| Availability Impact | High | N/A | High |
Vector
Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
cve.org: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Understanding the Weakness (CWE)
Availability
Technical Impact: DoS: Resource Consumption (CPU)
Frequently Asked Questions
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