CVE-2026-44020

Docling: Unsafe XML Entity Expansion in USPTO Patent Backend

Published Jun 24, 2026 CVSS 3.1 · 7.5 High EPSS < 1% KEV · Not listed
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.

Remediation

No solution or workaround provided in the CVE record

Tracking

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Advisories

Source ID Title
Github GHSA Github GHSA GHSA-m88r-rg27-5xfg Docling: Unsafe XML Entity Expansion in USPTO Patent Backend
History
Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'yes', 'Exploitation': 'none', 'Technical Impact': 'partial'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}

Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Docling-project
Docling-project docling
Vendors & Products Docling-project
Docling-project docling
Type Values Removed Values Added
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.
Title Docling: Unsafe XML Entity Expansion in USPTO Patent Backend
Weaknesses CWE-776
References
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 7.5, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H'}

Weaknesses

Sources

Status
PUBLISHED
Assigner
GitHub_M
Published
Updated
Aug 28, 2026, 12:04 PM
Reserved
May 4, 2026, 9:24 PM
Status
Modified
Published
Jun 24, 2026, 6:17 PM
Modified
Oct 25, 2026, 10:10 PM
Severity
Important
Public date
Jun 24, 2026, 5:45 PM