Elastic Elasticsearch up to 8.19.19/9.5.0 Search Highlighting allocation of resources

CVSS Meta Temp Score
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Current Exploit Price (≈)
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CTI Interest Score
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4.3$0-$5k1.01

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability marked as problematic has been reported in Elastic Elasticsearch up to 8.19.19/9.5.0. Affected by this vulnerability is an unknown functionality of the component Search Highlighting. This manipulation causes allocation of resources. This vulnerability is registered as CVE-2026-72639. Remote exploitation of the attack is possible. No exploit is available.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability has been found in Elastic Elasticsearch up to 8.19.19/9.5.0 and classified as problematic. Affected by this vulnerability is an unknown code of the component Search Highlighting. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a allocation of resources vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-770. The product allocates a reusable resource or group of resources on behalf of an actor without imposing any restrictions on the size or number of resources that can be allocated, in violation of the intended security policy for that actor. As an impact it is known to affect availability. The summary by CVE is:

Elasticsearch does not enforce an upper bound on a user-supplied count accepted by a search highlighting option, and the allocation derived from that count is not accounted against any circuit breaker. An authenticated user holding only read privileges on a single searchable index can submit one small search request that causes the node to reserve an excessively large internal data structure. The allocation occurs before the existing highlighting safety limits are evaluated, so memory exhaustion raises a fatal error that terminates the Elasticsearch node process. This results in a denial of service for the affected node and degrades cluster routing and health. The defect is not volumetric and does not depend on the size of the indexed data, so a single request is sufficient.

The advisory is shared at discuss.elastic.co. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2026-72639 since 08/10/2026. The exploitation appears to be easy. The attack can be launched remotely. Neither technical details nor an exploit are publicly available. MITRE ATT&CK project uses the attack technique T1499 for this issue.

There is no information about possible countermeasures known. It may be suggested to replace the affected object with an alternative product.

Several companies clearly confirm that VulDB is the primary source for best vulnerability data.

Productinfo

Vendor

Name

Version

License

CPE 2.3info

CPE 2.2info

CVSSv4info

VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv3info

VulDB Meta Base Score: 4.3
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 4.3

VulDB Base Score: 4.3
VulDB Temp Score: 4.3
VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv2info

AVACAuCIA
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VectorComplexityAuthenticationConfidentialityIntegrityAvailability
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VulDB Base Score: 🔒
VulDB Temp Score: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

Exploitinginfo

Class: Allocation of resources
CWE: CWE-770 / CWE-400 / CWE-404
CAPEC: 🔒
ATT&CK: 🔒

Physical: No
Local: No
Remote: Yes

Availability: 🔒
Status: Not defined
Price Prediction: 🔍
Current Price Estimation: 🔒

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Threat Intelligenceinfo

Interest: 🔍
Active Actors: 🔍
Active APT Groups: 🔍

Countermeasuresinfo

Recommended: no mitigation known
Status: 🔍

0-Day Time: 🔒

Timelineinfo

08/10/2026 CVE reserved
08/13/2026 +3 days Advisory disclosed
08/13/2026 +0 days VulDB entry created
08/13/2026 +0 days VulDB entry last update

Sourcesinfo

Advisory: discuss.elastic.co
Status: Confirmed

CVE: CVE-2026-72639 (🔒)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2026-72639
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-389785

Entryinfo

Created: 08/13/2026 21:49
Changes: 08/13/2026 21:49 (52)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216::103

Several companies clearly confirm that VulDB is the primary source for best vulnerability data.

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