AUGUST 14, 2026
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Case File

CVE-2026-72636

MEDIUM · CVSS 6.5 EPSS 0.29%

Source: NVD + CISA KEV + EPSS · Published 2026-08-13 · Last synced 2026-08-14

CyberRota Analysis

AI-Generated

Elasticsearch is vulnerable due to an uncontrolled recursion issue in its wildcard matching helper, which can lead to denial of service by exhausting the thread stack during search requests with complex wildcard patterns. This results in the affected node shutting down instead of handling the request gracefully, potentially disrupting services. Organizations using Elasticsearch, especially those with heavy wildcard search operations, should prioritize addressing this vulnerability to maintain service availability and stability.

CVE
CVE-2026-72636
Severity
MEDIUM
CVSS
6.5
EPSS
0.29%

Original NVD Description

Uncontrolled Recursion (CWE-674) in the Elasticsearch wildcard matching helper can lead to a denial of service via Excessive Allocation (CAPEC-130). The matcher used to resolve wildcard patterns against names is implemented recursively and had no bound on recursion depth or on the total number of match operations performed. A search request containing a wildcard pattern with a large number of wildcard groups, evaluated against a sufficiently long name, exhausts the thread stack. Elasticsearch treats a stack overflow as an unrecoverable condition and shuts the node down, so the request terminates the affected node rather than failing gracefully.