CVE-2026-72687: CWE-789 Memory Allocation with Excessive Size Value in Elastic Elasticsearch
CVE-2026-72687 is a medium severity vulnerability in Elasticsearch where a low-privileged authenticated user can cause a denial of service by triggering an out-of-memory condition. This occurs because Elasticsearch processes a forged opaque identifier containing a size value that drives an unchecked memory allocation, leading to node process termination.
AI Analysis
Technical Summary
This vulnerability involves a flaw in Elasticsearch's handling of a forged opaque identifier submitted by a low-privileged authenticated user. The system decodes and deserializes this identifier before verifying its legitimacy. However, a size value embedded within the identifier is used to allocate memory without any upper bound or accounting against memory usage controls. This unchecked allocation can exhaust system memory, causing the Elasticsearch node process to terminate and resulting in a denial of service condition.
Potential Impact
The impact is a denial of service caused by a fatal out-of-memory condition that terminates the affected Elasticsearch node process. There is no impact on confidentiality or integrity, only availability is affected.
Mitigation Recommendations
Patch status is not yet confirmed — check the vendor advisory for current remediation guidance. No official fix or temporary workaround is currently documented. Until a fix is available, restricting access to trusted users and monitoring for unusual memory usage may help reduce risk.
CVE-2026-72687: CWE-789 Memory Allocation with Excessive Size Value in Elastic Elasticsearch
Description
CVE-2026-72687 is a medium severity vulnerability in Elasticsearch where a low-privileged authenticated user can cause a denial of service by triggering an out-of-memory condition. This occurs because Elasticsearch processes a forged opaque identifier containing a size value that drives an unchecked memory allocation, leading to node process termination.
CVSS v3.1
Score 6.5medium
Affected software
pkg:maven/org.elasticsearch/elasticsearchRun on your own infrastructure? Check whether these packages are installed with threat-finder — our free open-source scanner.
Weaknesses
AI-Powered Analysis
Machine-generated threat intelligence
Technical Analysis
This vulnerability involves a flaw in Elasticsearch's handling of a forged opaque identifier submitted by a low-privileged authenticated user. The system decodes and deserializes this identifier before verifying its legitimacy. However, a size value embedded within the identifier is used to allocate memory without any upper bound or accounting against memory usage controls. This unchecked allocation can exhaust system memory, causing the Elasticsearch node process to terminate and resulting in a denial of service condition.
Potential Impact
The impact is a denial of service caused by a fatal out-of-memory condition that terminates the affected Elasticsearch node process. There is no impact on confidentiality or integrity, only availability is affected.
Mitigation Recommendations
Patch status is not yet confirmed — check the vendor advisory for current remediation guidance. No official fix or temporary workaround is currently documented. Until a fix is available, restricting access to trusted users and monitoring for unusual memory usage may help reduce risk.
Technical Details
- Data Version
- 5.2
- Assigner Short Name
- elastic
- Date Reserved
- 2026-08-10T11:17:58.731Z
- Cvss Version
- 3.1
- State
- PUBLISHED
- Remediation Level
- null
Threat ID: 6a7e1a87bf8831d539b18437
Added to database: 08/13/2026, 19:27:03 UTC
Last enriched: 08/13/2026, 19:42:36 UTC
Last updated: 08/13/2026, 19:48:56 UTC
Views: 5
Community Reviews
0 reviewsCrowdsource mitigation strategies, share intel context, and vote on the most helpful responses. Sign in to add your voice and help keep defenders ahead.
Want to contribute mitigation steps or threat intel context? Sign in or create an account to join the community discussion.
Actions
Updates to AI analysis require Pro Console access. Upgrade inside Console → Billing.
External Links
Need more coverage?
Upgrade to Pro Console for AI refresh and higher limits.
For incident response and remediation, OffSeq services can help resolve threats faster.
Latest Threats
Check if your credentials are on the dark web
Instant breach scanning across billions of leaked records. Free tier available.