CVE-2026-6879

Quadratic Behavior in xml.etree.ElementPath Index Predicates

Published Jul 28, 2026 CVSS 4.0 · 2 Low EPSS < 1% KEV · Not listed
Description
`Element.findall()` and fully-consumed `Element.iterfind()` exhibit `O(n^2)` time complexity when using XPath index predicates (e.g. `[1]`, `[last()]`, `[last()-N]`) on XML documents with many same-tag siblings. `Element.find()` is only affected when the first match is near the end  of the sibling list, such as with `[last()]` or `[last()-N]`;  `.//item[1]` short-circuits after the first match.

Remediation

No solution or workaround provided in the CVE record

Tracking

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Advisories

No advisories available
History
Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Redhat
Redhat hummingbird
Weaknesses CWE-770
CPEs cpe:/a:redhat:hummingbird:1
Vendors & Products Redhat
Redhat hummingbird
References
Metrics threat_severity

None

cvssV3_1

{'score': 2.2, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L'}

threat_severity

Low

Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Python
Python cpython
Vendors & Products Python
Python cpython
Type Values Removed Values Added
Description `Element.findall()` and fully-consumed `Element.iterfind()` exhibit `O(n^2)` time complexity when using XPath index predicates (e.g. `[1]`, `[last()]`, `[last()-N]`) on XML documents with many same-tag siblings. `Element.find()` is only affected when the first match is near the end  of the sibling list, such as with `[last()]` or `[last()-N]`;  `.//item[1]` short-circuits after the first match.
Title Quadratic Behavior in xml.etree.ElementPath Index Predicates
Weaknesses CWE-407
References
Metrics cvssV4_0

{'score': 2, 'vector': 'CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:H/AT:P/PR:H/UI:P/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N'}

ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'no', 'Exploitation': 'none', 'Technical Impact': 'partial'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}

Weaknesses

Sources

Status
PUBLISHED
Assigner
PSF
Published
Updated
Aug 13, 2026, 12:27 AM
Reserved
Apr 22, 2026, 6:26 PM
Status
Awaiting Analysis
Published
Jul 28, 2026, 3:17 PM
Modified
Oct 24, 2026, 1:10 PM
Severity
Low
Public date
Jul 28, 2026, 1:46 PM