CVE-2026-44020
HighCVSS 7.5Exploitation Probability (EPSS)
Low risk25th percentile - higher than 25% of all known CVEs
Summary
A vulnerability in Docling versions 2.13.0 through 2.74.0 allows XML External Entity (XXE) attacks via malicious USPTO patent files. An attacker can read arbitrary files from the server, perform SSRF attacks, or cause denial of service.
Risk Assessment
The risk includes sensitive data leakage, unauthorized access to internal network resources, and service disruption through Billion Laughs attacks.
Recommendation
Immediately upgrade Docling to version 2.74.0 or later, which includes a fix for XXE attacks.
Original NVD description (English source)
Docling simplifies document processing by parsing diverse formats and providing integrations with the generative AI ecosystem. From 2.13.0 until 2.74.0, the USPTO patent XML parser used the standard xml.sax.parseString() without protection against XML External Entity (XXE) attacks. An attacker could craft malicious USPTO patent XML files with external entity references that could read arbitrary files from the server filesystem, perform Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) attacks, or cause denial of service through entity expansion (Billion Laughs attack). The vulnerability affects three USPTO patent format parsers: ICE (v4.x), Grant v2.5, and Application v1.x. This vulnerability is fixed in 2.74.0.