Uncontrolled Recursion in Elasticsearch Leading to Denial of Service (CVE-2026-72679)
Description
A vulnerability in Elasticsearch allows an authenticated user with read-only access on a single index to cause a denial of service by triggering uncontrolled recursion in an intervals query pattern. The issue arises because Elasticsearch does not enforce its input length restriction on the user-supplied pattern, leading to unbounded recursion that exhausts the thread stack and terminates the node process. This affects specific versions of Elasticsearch and can disrupt service availability for the affected node.
Affected software
pkg:bitnami/elasticsearchRun on your own infrastructure? Check whether these packages are installed with threat-finder — our free open-source scanner.
AI-Powered Analysis
Machine-generated threat intelligence
Technical Analysis
Elasticsearch versions >=8.19.0 <8.19.20 and >=9.0.0 <9.4.5 contain a vulnerability (CVE-2026-72679) where the input length restriction is not applied to user-supplied patterns in intervals queries. This allows an authenticated user with read-only privileges on a single searchable index to submit a deeply nested pattern that causes unbounded recursion, exhausting the thread stack and causing a fatal error that terminates the Elasticsearch node process, resulting in denial of service.
Potential Impact
The vulnerability leads to denial of service on the affected Elasticsearch node by crashing the node process due to stack exhaustion from uncontrolled recursion. The impact is limited to service availability disruption on the node running the vulnerable version. Exploitation requires authenticated access with read-only privileges on a single index, which lowers the attack complexity but limits the scope of potential attackers.
Mitigation Recommendations
A patch is available for this vulnerability. Users should upgrade affected Elasticsearch versions to fixed releases beyond 8.19.19 and 9.4.4. Since this is not a cloud service, administrators must apply the update manually to remediate the issue. Patch status is confirmed by the presence of patchAvailable=true and the specified fixed version ranges.
Technical Details
- Gcve Source
- db.gcve.eu
- Osv Id
- BIT-elasticsearch-2026-72679
- Osv Schema Version
- 1.6.2
- Aliases
- ["CVE-2026-72679"]
- Ecosystems
- ["Bitnami"]
- Database Specific Severity
- Medium
- State
- PUBLISHED
Threat ID: 6a85b4b1acd9273b4925109c
Added to database: 08/19/2026, 13:50:41 UTC
Last enriched: 08/19/2026, 14:10:41 UTC
Last updated: 10/04/2026, 10:04:19 UTC
Views: 64
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