CVE-2026-31248Network attack vector

Denial of service via recursive XML entities

Published May 11, 2026 · Updated May 11, 2026

Denial of service in Docling's METS GBS backend through 2.61.0 allows remote attackers to exhaust resources with a crafted archive. The backend passes XML extracted from a .tar.gz archive to etree.fromstring() without disabling entity resolution, so nested entity definitions expand exponentially. Exploitation requires the target to process the malicious archive; CPU and memory exhaustion then interrupts parser availability without reported data disclosure or modification.

CVSS severity7.5
High
EPSS probability0.28%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Denial of service in Docling's METS GBS backend through 2.61.0 allows remote attackers to exhaust resources with a crafted archive. The backend passes XML extracted from a .tar.gz archive to etree.fromstring() without disabling entity resolution, so nested entity definitions expand exponentially. Exploitation requires the target to process the malicious archive; CPU and memory exhaustion then interrupts parser availability without reported data disclosure or modification.

The record

CVE
CVE-2026-31248
Published
May 11, 2026
Updated
May 11, 2026
Vendor
Unknown vendor
Product
Unknown product
Classifications
CWE-776, T1499.003
Attack vector
network
Privileges
unauthenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. May 11, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. May 11, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

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Is a vulnerable build present?

Affected buildAffected product and version details are unavailable.

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectornetwork
Required privilegesunauthenticated

What is affected?

Affected products and versions are unavailable in this record.

Published CVSS scores

7.5GitHub Advisory DatabaseCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
7.5CISA CoordinatorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

Sep 9, 2026Sep 15, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 15, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectornetwork
Privilegesunauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-776Improper Restriction of Recursive Entity References in DTDs ('XML Entity Expansion')
T1499.003Application Exhaustion Flood

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

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Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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