Docling: Unsafe XML Entity Expansion in USPTO Patent Backend
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- Denial of service
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- None · None · High
- Fix status
- Fixed
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA, GitHub and Red Hat. Impact type from CWE-611 and the CVSS impact.
Summary
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.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- None
- Automatable
- Yes
- Technical impact
- Partial
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| docling-project | docling | 2.13.0 to before 2.74.0 | 2.74.0 | Patch available | CNA |
| — | docling (PyPI) | 2.13.0 to before 2.74.0 | 2.74.0 | Patch available | GHSA-m88r-rg27-5xfg |
- docling Vendordocling-project Affected 2.13.0 to before 2.74.0 Fixed in 2.74.0 Patch available CNA
- docling (PyPI) Vendor— Affected 2.13.0 to before 2.74.0 Fixed in 2.74.0 Patch available GHSA-m88r-rg27-5xfg
CPE configurations NVD · 1
| CPE | Versions | Role | Vendor |
|---|---|---|---|
| cpe:2.3:a:docling:docling:*:*:*:*:*:python:*:* | 2.13.0 to before 2.74.0 | Vulnerable | docling-project |
- cpe:2.3:a:docling:docling:*:*:*:*:*:python:*:* Versions 2.13.0 to before 2.74.0 Vulnerable ·docling-project
Remediation
- Fix · CNA docling (docling-project) Fixed in 2.74.0
- Fix · GHSA-m88r-rg27-5xfg docling (PyPI) Fixed in 2.74.0 Advisory →
Red Hat 1 advisory
- RHSA-2026:60520 Released 2026-08-27 · Red Hat rating CriticalRHOAI 3.4.4 - Red Hat OpenShift AI
- Red Hat OpenShift AI 3.4 registry.redhat.io/rhoai/odh-automl-rhel9, registry.redhat.io/rhoai/odh-autorag-rhel9, registry.redhat.io/rhoai/odh-built-in-detector-rhel9 +47
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Important. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
| Product | Status | Plan or fix |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat OpenShift AI 3.4 | Fixed | RHSA-2026:60520 |
Not affected: 1 product
- Red Hat OpenShift AI 3.4
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-44020
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-m88r-rg27-5xfg
References
Other 7
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:60520
- https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-44020
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2492456
- https://github.com/docling-project/docling
- https://github.com/docling-project/docling/releases/tag/v2.74.0
- https://github.com/pypa/advisory-database/tree/main/vulns/docling/PYSEC-2026-240.yaml
- https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-44020.json
More docling-project Docling vulnerabilities
- TI-2026-68355 Docling Tectonic TikZ rendering enables arbitrary file read/write CVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
- TI-2026-68362 Arbitrary local file read in Docling OpenDocument backend CVSS 4.0MEDIUM 6.9
- TI-2026-68360 Docling table span parsing causes CPU and memory exhaustion CVSS 3.1MEDIUM 6.5
- TI-2026-68353 Docling sends configured HTTP headers to any remote image host CVSS 3.1MEDIUM 5.3
- TI-2026-68359 Docling embeds local image files from crafted JSON documents CVSS 3.1MEDIUM 4.3
- TI-2026-32058 Docling: Unsafe Zip Extraction in EasyOCR Model Download CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
Sources
- CVE-2026-44020 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-44020 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-m88r-rg27-5xfg · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2026-44020 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Sources and licences