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Vulnerability · Published Jun 24, 2026 · Assigned by GitHub_M

CVE-2026-44020Docling: Unsafe XML Entity Expansion in USPTO Patent Backend

High 7.5

In plain English

A high-severity XML external entity in docling from docling-project. There are no confirmed reports of exploitation so far. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 0.6% (higher than 49% of all known vulnerabilities). Fixed versions are available - upgrade the affected package.

Severity (CVSS 3.1)7.5High
Exploit odds (30 days)0.6%top 51.1% of all CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo reportsCISA SSVC: none
Attack toolingNoneno public tooling known

Official 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 packages & fixed versions

EcosystemPackageFixed inAdvisory
PyPIdocling2.74.0GHSA-m88r-rg27-5xfg
PyPIdocling2.74.0PYSEC-2026-240

Affected products (as reported)

VendorProductVersions
docling-project docling >= 2.13.0, < 2.74.0

Weakness: CWE-776, CWE-611 · Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

References