Use of Out-of-range Pointer Offset in the Elasticsearch Machine Learning Native Inference Process (CVE-2026-72642)
CVE-2026-72642 is a high-severity vulnerability in Elasticsearch's machine learning native inference process. It allows a user with privileges to upload and deploy trained models to craft a model that performs out-of-bounds memory reads and writes. This leads to heap corruption, causing crashes of the inference process and potentially enabling arbitrary code execution within that process context. The vulnerability affects specific Elasticsearch versions 8.19.0 through 8.19.19, 9.4.0 through 9.4.4, and 9.5.0. Patch updates are available to address this issue.
AI Analysis
Technical Summary
The Elasticsearch native inference process evaluates machine learning models and accepts operations that compute memory addresses from offsets supplied inside the model. This vulnerability arises because the offset is not validated to remain within the bounds of the allocated storage. An attacker with upload and deployment privileges can craft a malicious model that reads and writes memory outside the intended allocation, causing heap corruption. This corruption can crash the inference process and, if the attacker controls the heap layout sufficiently, may allow arbitrary code execution within the process context. The flaw affects Elasticsearch versions >=8.19.0 <8.19.20, >=9.4.0 <9.4.5, and >=9.5.0 <9.5.1. A patch is available to fix this vulnerability.
Potential Impact
Successful exploitation can cause heap corruption leading to crashes of the Elasticsearch machine learning inference process. With sufficient control over heap layout, an attacker could achieve arbitrary code execution within the context of this process. This elevates the risk to high severity due to potential remote code execution capabilities by users authorized to upload models.
Mitigation Recommendations
A patch is available for this vulnerability. Users should upgrade affected Elasticsearch versions to fixed releases beyond 8.19.19, 9.4.4, and 9.5.0 as applicable. Since this is not a cloud service, remediation requires applying vendor patches to on-premises deployments. No additional mitigations are specified beyond applying the official fix.
Use of Out-of-range Pointer Offset in the Elasticsearch Machine Learning Native Inference Process (CVE-2026-72642)
Description
CVE-2026-72642 is a high-severity vulnerability in Elasticsearch's machine learning native inference process. It allows a user with privileges to upload and deploy trained models to craft a model that performs out-of-bounds memory reads and writes. This leads to heap corruption, causing crashes of the inference process and potentially enabling arbitrary code execution within that process context. The vulnerability affects specific Elasticsearch versions 8.19.0 through 8.19.19, 9.4.0 through 9.4.4, and 9.5.0. Patch updates are available to address this issue.
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
The Elasticsearch native inference process evaluates machine learning models and accepts operations that compute memory addresses from offsets supplied inside the model. This vulnerability arises because the offset is not validated to remain within the bounds of the allocated storage. An attacker with upload and deployment privileges can craft a malicious model that reads and writes memory outside the intended allocation, causing heap corruption. This corruption can crash the inference process and, if the attacker controls the heap layout sufficiently, may allow arbitrary code execution within the process context. The flaw affects Elasticsearch versions >=8.19.0 <8.19.20, >=9.4.0 <9.4.5, and >=9.5.0 <9.5.1. A patch is available to fix this vulnerability.
Potential Impact
Successful exploitation can cause heap corruption leading to crashes of the Elasticsearch machine learning inference process. With sufficient control over heap layout, an attacker could achieve arbitrary code execution within the context of this process. This elevates the risk to high severity due to potential remote code execution capabilities by users authorized to upload models.
Mitigation Recommendations
A patch is available for this vulnerability. Users should upgrade affected Elasticsearch versions to fixed releases beyond 8.19.19, 9.4.4, and 9.5.0 as applicable. Since this is not a cloud service, remediation requires applying vendor patches to on-premises deployments. No additional mitigations are specified beyond applying the official fix.
Technical Details
- Gcve Source
- db.gcve.eu
- Osv Id
- BIT-elasticsearch-2026-72642
- Osv Schema Version
- 1.6.2
- Aliases
- ["CVE-2026-72642"]
- Ecosystems
- ["Bitnami"]
- Database Specific Severity
- High
- Cvss Version
- null
Threat ID: 6a85b4b2acd9273b492514c5
Added to database: 08/19/2026, 13:50:42 UTC
Last enriched: 08/19/2026, 14:12:15 UTC
Last updated: 08/19/2026, 14:52:00 UTC
Views: 2
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