# CVE-2026-44020

## Summary

- **CVE ID:** CVE-2026-44020
- **Severity:** HIGH
- **CVSS Score:** 7.5 (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H)
- **CWE:** CWE-776
- **Published:** Jun 24, 2026
- **Last Modified:** Aug 28, 2026

## Description

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.

## Affected Products

- docling-project — docling (>= 2.13.0, < 2.74.0)

## References

- [CNA](https://github.com/docling-project/docling/security/advisories/GHSA-m88r-rg27-5xfg)
- [redhat-SADP](https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-44020)
- [redhat-SADP](https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2492456)
- [redhat-SADP](https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-44020.json)
- [redhat-SADP](https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:60520)

## Exploitation Prediction (EPSS)

- **EPSS Score:** 0.60%
- **EPSS Percentile:** 46.8

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_Exported from OnDuty AI Vulnerability Intelligence on 2026-09-12._