CVE-2026-72638
Last modified
CVE-2026-72638 is a medium-severity vulnerability rated 6.5/10 on the CVSS scale. Uncontrolled Recursion (CWE-674) in Elasticsearch can lead to denial of service via Input Data Manipulation (CAPEC-153). An authenticated user holding only low-privileged index creation permissions can submit a single request containing a specially crafted, malformed custom analysis definition that is resolved recursively without a cycle or depth check, exhausting the thread stack and terminating the affected node.. EPSS estimates a 0.29% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days.
Description
Uncontrolled Recursion (CWE-674) in Elasticsearch can lead to denial of service via Input Data Manipulation (CAPEC-153). An authenticated user holding only low-privileged index creation permissions can submit a single request containing a specially crafted, malformed custom analysis definition that is resolved recursively without a cycle or depth check, exhausting the thread stack and terminating the affected node.
Metrics
Weakness Enumeration
Affected Software
| Vendor | Product | Versions |
|---|---|---|
| Elastic | Elasticsearch | >= 8.0.0, < 8.19.20 |
| Elastic | Elasticsearch | >= 9.0.0, < 9.4.5 |
References
Timeline
- Published
- Last Modified
- Status
- Analyzed
Frequently Asked Questions
What is CVE-2026-72638?
How severe is CVE-2026-72638?
How do I fix CVE-2026-72638?
How Strix Helps
- How Strix found a critical auth bypass in etcdStrix autonomously discovered a critical authentication bypass in etcd, later designated CVE-2026-33413.
- Autonomous PentestingAI agents that find and validate exploitable vulnerabilities like this one across your applications.
- PR ReviewsPentest every pull request so vulnerable code is caught before it ships to production.
- AI Penetration TestingHow AI-driven penetration testing continuously covers your attack surface.
Related CVEs from 2026
- CVE-2026-7263In PHP versions 8.4.* before 8.4.21 and 8.5.* before 8.5.6, …7.5
- CVE-2026-72630Incorrect Authorization (CWE-863) in Kibana Fleet can lead t…7.1
- CVE-2026-72631Improper Privilege Management (CWE-269) in Kibana Fleet can …6.5
- CVE-2026-72632Observable Discrepancy (CWE-203) in Kibana Fleet can lead to…7.1
- CVE-2026-72633Incorrect Authorization (CWE-863) in Kibana Entity Analytics…4.3
- CVE-2026-72636Uncontrolled Recursion (CWE-674) in the Elasticsearch wildca…6.5
- CVE-2026-72639Elasticsearch does not enforce an upper bound on a user-supp…6.5
- CVE-2026-7264A weakness has been identified in SourceCodester Pizzafy Eco…6.3
- CVE-2026-72640The Elastic Cloud on Kubernetes (ECK) operator reads a list …6.5
- CVE-2026-72641Incorrect Authorization (CWE-863) in Kibana can lead to unau…5.4
- CVE-2026-72642The native inference process that Elasticsearch uses to eval…8.8
- CVE-2026-72643Kibana Agent Builder determines whether a caller owns a priv…7.1
Are you affected by CVE-2026-72638?
Run a free Strix scan to check your systems for this vulnerability.
Scan your code nowSource: NVD / NIST