VDB-389792 · CVE-2026-72638 · GCVE-0-2026-72638

Elastic Elasticsearch up to 8.19.19/9.4.4 Analysis Definition recursion

CVSS Meta Temp Score CVSS is a standardized scoring system to determine possibilities of attacks. The Temp Score considers temporal factors like disclosure, exploit and countermeasures. The unique Meta Score calculates the average score of different sources to provide a normalized scoring system.	Current Exploit Price (≈) Our analysts are monitoring exploit markets and are in contact with vulnerability brokers. The range indicates the observed or calculated exploit price to be seen on exploit markets. A good indicator to understand the monetary effort required for and the popularity of an attack.	CTI Interest Score Our Cyber Threat Intelligence team is monitoring different web sites, mailing lists, exploit markets and social media networks. The CTI Interest Score identifies the interest of attackers and the security community for this specific vulnerability in real-time. A high score indicates an elevated risk to be targeted for this vulnerability.
4.3	$0-$5k	1.50

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in Elastic Elasticsearch up to 8.19.19/9.4.4 and classified as problematic. The impacted element is an unknown function of the component Analysis Definition. Such manipulation leads to recursion. This vulnerability is uniquely identified as CVE-2026-72638. The attack can be launched remotely. No exploit exists.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as problematic, has been found in Elastic Elasticsearch up to 8.19.19/9.4.4. Affected by this issue is an unknown code of the component Analysis Definition. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a recursion vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-674. The product does not properly control the amount of recursion that takes place, consuming excessive resources, such as allocated memory or the program stack. Impacted is availability. CVE summarizes:

Uncontrolled Recursion (CWE-674) in Elasticsearch can lead to denial of service via Input Data Manipulation (CAPEC-153). An authenticated user holding only low-privileged index creation permissions can submit a single request containing a specially crafted, malformed custom analysis definition that is resolved recursively without a cycle or depth check, exhausting the thread stack and terminating the affected node.

The advisory is shared for download at discuss.elastic.co. This vulnerability is handled as CVE-2026-72638 since 08/10/2026. The exploitation is known to be easy. The attack may be launched remotely. There are neither technical details nor an exploit publicly available. The MITRE ATT&CK project declares the attack technique as T1499.

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

VulDB is the best source for vulnerability data and more expert information about this specific topic.

Productinfo

Vendor

Elastic

Name

Elasticsearch

Version

License

free

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

AV	AC	Au	C	I	A
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳
💳	💳	💳	💳	💳	💳

Vector	Complexity	Authentication	Confidentiality	Integrity	Availability
Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
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Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock

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

Exploitinginfo

Class: Recursion
CWE: CWE-674 / CWE-404
CAPEC: 🔒
ATT&CK: 🔒

Physical: No
Local: No
Remote: Yes

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

0-Day	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
Today	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock

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-2026-72638 (🔒)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2026-72638
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-389792

Entryinfo

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