Vulnerability in Elastic Elasticsearch

CVE-2026-72678

Elasticsearch does not validate a size value taken from a user-supplied input before that value is used to reserve memory for an internal data structure. An authenticated user holding only read privileges can submit a single small crafted request to a product API endpoint that causes the node to attempt an excessively large allocation. The resulting memory exhaustion raises a fatal error that terminates the Elasticsearch node process, causing a denial of service for the affected node and degrading cluster health. The defect is not volumetric, so a single request is sufficient regardless of the heap size configured on the target node.

Published · last modified .

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 6.5 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.005 (38.3th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 38th percentile — 38.3% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS trend (30 days)EPSS over the last 30 days for CVE-2026-72678: held from 0.003 to 0.005.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.003 · newest: 0.005 · change: +0.002

Affected products

Weakness classification (CWE)

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-72678?
CVE-2026-72678 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Elastic Elasticsearch, classified under CWE-789. CVSS score: 6.5/10. Published 2026-08-13.
How severe is CVE-2026-72678?
Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 6.5 out of 10.