Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling in Elasticsearch Leading to Denial of Service (CVE-2026-72684)
CVE-2026-72684 is a medium severity vulnerability in Elasticsearch that allows an authenticated user with read privileges to cause a denial of service. By submitting a crafted search request, the user can trigger unbounded memory allocation in an internal component outside existing memory controls. This leads to an out-of-memory condition that terminates the affected node process, disrupting service availability. The vulnerability affects Elasticsearch versions from 8.0.0 up to but not including 9.5.0. A patch is available to address this issue.
AI Analysis
Technical Summary
This vulnerability in Elasticsearch permits an authenticated user with only read privileges to submit a specially crafted search request containing user-supplied input. Processing this input causes an internal component to allocate memory without any upper bound and outside the scope of memory accounting controls designed to limit resource usage. The uncontrolled memory allocation results in an out-of-memory condition that crashes the node process, causing denial of service. The flaw affects Elasticsearch versions >=8.0.0 and <9.5.0. A patch is available to fix the issue.
Potential Impact
Exploitation of this vulnerability leads to a denial of service by crashing the Elasticsearch node process due to an out-of-memory condition. This disrupts availability of the affected Elasticsearch node. No information indicates privilege escalation or data compromise. The impact is limited to service interruption.
Mitigation Recommendations
A patch is available for this vulnerability. Users should apply the official fix provided by Elasticsearch to affected versions >=8.0.0 and <9.5.0. There is no indication that additional mitigations are required beyond applying the patch.
Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling in Elasticsearch Leading to Denial of Service (CVE-2026-72684)
Description
CVE-2026-72684 is a medium severity vulnerability in Elasticsearch that allows an authenticated user with read privileges to cause a denial of service. By submitting a crafted search request, the user can trigger unbounded memory allocation in an internal component outside existing memory controls. This leads to an out-of-memory condition that terminates the affected node process, disrupting service availability. The vulnerability affects Elasticsearch versions from 8.0.0 up to but not including 9.5.0. A patch is available to address this issue.
Affected software
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AI-Powered Analysis
Machine-generated threat intelligence
Technical Analysis
This vulnerability in Elasticsearch permits an authenticated user with only read privileges to submit a specially crafted search request containing user-supplied input. Processing this input causes an internal component to allocate memory without any upper bound and outside the scope of memory accounting controls designed to limit resource usage. The uncontrolled memory allocation results in an out-of-memory condition that crashes the node process, causing denial of service. The flaw affects Elasticsearch versions >=8.0.0 and <9.5.0. A patch is available to fix the issue.
Potential Impact
Exploitation of this vulnerability leads to a denial of service by crashing the Elasticsearch node process due to an out-of-memory condition. This disrupts availability of the affected Elasticsearch node. No information indicates privilege escalation or data compromise. The impact is limited to service interruption.
Mitigation Recommendations
A patch is available for this vulnerability. Users should apply the official fix provided by Elasticsearch to affected versions >=8.0.0 and <9.5.0. There is no indication that additional mitigations are required beyond applying the patch.
Technical Details
- Gcve Source
- db.gcve.eu
- Osv Id
- BIT-elasticsearch-2026-72684
- Osv Schema Version
- 1.6.2
- Aliases
- ["CVE-2026-72684"]
- Ecosystems
- ["Bitnami"]
- Database Specific Severity
- Medium
- Cvss Version
- null
Threat ID: 6a85b4b1acd9273b49251098
Added to database: 08/19/2026, 13:50:41 UTC
Last enriched: 08/19/2026, 14:10:16 UTC
Last updated: 08/19/2026, 17:52:00 UTC
Views: 2
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