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CVE-2026-72639

6.5 · MEDIUM

Elasticsearch does not enforce an upper bound on a user-supplied count accepted by a search highlighting option, and the allocation derived from that count is not accounted against any circuit brea…

Published Aug 13, 2026CWE-789EPSS 0.42%

Overview

CVE-2026-72639 is a medium-severity vulnerability. It was published on August 13, 2026 and has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 6.5 (MEDIUM).

This vulnerability has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 6.5, rated MEDIUM. It can be exploited remotely over the network. Some level of privileges is required for exploitation.

Technical description

Elasticsearch does not enforce an upper bound on a user-supplied count accepted by a search highlighting option, and the allocation derived from that count is not accounted against any circuit breaker. An authenticated user holding only read privileges on a single searchable index can submit one small search request that causes the node to reserve an excessively large internal data structure. The allocation occurs before the existing highlighting safety limits are evaluated, so memory exhaustion raises a fatal error that terminates the Elasticsearch node process. This results in a denial of service for the affected node and degrades cluster routing and health. The defect is not volumetric and does not depend on the size of the indexed data, so a single request is sufficient.

Remediation

Check the references section for vendor advisories, patches, and mitigation guidance. If immediate patching is not possible, review the CVSS vector to understand the attack surface and apply compensating controls such as network segmentation or access restrictions.

References

Refdiscuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-8-19-20-9-4-5-9-5-1-security-update-esa-2026-120/389503

How CyberStrike helps

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-72639?

CVE-2026-72639 is a medium-severity vulnerability. It was published on August 13, 2026 and has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 6.5 (MEDIUM).

How severe is CVE-2026-72639?

This vulnerability has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 6.5, rated MEDIUM. It can be exploited remotely over the network. Some level of privileges is required for exploitation.

How do I fix or remediate CVE-2026-72639?

Check the references section for vendor advisories, patches, and mitigation guidance. If immediate patching is not possible, review the CVSS vector to understand the attack surface and apply compensating controls such as network segmentation or access restrictions.

How can CyberStrike help with CVE-2026-72639?

CyberStrike is an open-source, AI-augmented pentesting engine. Rather than flag a version number, it tests whether an issue like CVE-2026-72639 is actually reachable in your own applications and APIs, then verifies each finding before reporting it. That tells you if the weakness is a real, exploitable risk in your environment or a false positive you can safely deprioritize.

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