What is the CVSS score of CVE-2026-31247?

CVE-2026-31247 has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 7.5 (High). CVSS vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H. EPSS exploitation probability: 0.0%.

Which versions of Docling are affected by CVE-2026-31247?

Docling, a document parsing library used in content processing pipelines, contains a high-severity denial-of-service vulnerability (CVSS 7.5) in versions through 2.61.0 affecting JATS/XML document…

How to fix or mitigate CVE-2026-31247?

Within 24 hours, audit all systems using Docling versions up to 2.61.0 and identify which accept untrusted JATS/XML documents. Within 7 days, implement strict input validation on all XML documents before parsing-establish file size limits (recommend ≤10MB maximum for JATS files), disable XML external entity expansion at the parser level, and deploy monitoring for parsing crashes or anomalous resource consumption. Within 30 days, configure document parsing operations to run in resource-constrained containers with CPU and memory limits; monitor vendor advisories for patch availability; if persistent risk exists, evaluate alternative document parsing libraries without known XML bomb vulnerabilities.

Docling CVE-2026-31247

EUVD-2026-29055 HIGH

Uncontrolled Resource Consumption (CWE-400)

2026-05-11 mitre

GHSA-cr42-rg2m-mq4q

Denial Of Service XXE N A

7.5

CVSS 3.1 · NVD

Severity by source

NVD PRIMARY

7.5 HIGH

AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

vuln.today AI

7.5 HIGH

A crafted file parsed by a network-facing ingestion service needs no auth or interaction (AV:N/PR:N/UI:N), is trivial to build (AC:L), and only exhausts resources (C:N/I:N/A:H).

3.1 AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

4.0 AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

Primary rating from NVD.

CVSS VectorNVD

Attack Vector

Network

Attack Complexity

Low

Privileges Required

None

User Interaction

None

Scope

Unchanged

Confidentiality

None

Integrity

None

Availability

High

Lifecycle Timeline

Analysis Generated

Jul 24, 2026 - 00:04 vuln.today

CVSS changed

May 12, 2026 - 19:22 NVD

7.5 (HIGH)

CVE Published

May 11, 2026 - 00:00 nvd

HIGH 7.5

CVE Published

May 11, 2026 - 00:00 nvd

UNKNOWN (no severity yet)

DescriptionCVE.org

Docling's JATS XML backend is vulnerable to XML Entity Expansion (XXE) attacks thru 2.61.0. The backend uses etree.parse() to parse XML files without disabling entity resolution. An attacker can craft a malicious XML file containing a nested entity expansion payload (XML Bomb). When processed by Docling, the exponential expansion of entities leads to excessive resource consumption, resulting in a denial of service (DoS) condition on the system running the Docling parser.

AnalysisAI

Denial of service in Docling through version 2.61.0 lets remote attackers crash or exhaust resources on any system that parses a document via the JATS XML backend. The backend calls etree.parse() without disabling entity resolution, so a maliciously crafted JATS/XML file containing nested entity definitions (a 'billion laughs' XML bomb) triggers exponential entity expansion and consumes all available CPU/memory. No public exploit identified at time of analysis; EPSS is very low (0.02%) and SSVC records no observed exploitation, so this is a high-CVSS availability issue rather than an actively exploited threat.

Technical ContextAI

Docling is an open-source Python document-conversion library that ingests many formats, including JATS (Journal Article Tag Suite) XML used for scientific/journal articles, and here the JATS backend uses lxml's etree.parse() with default settings that permit DTD processing and internal general entity resolution. The root cause is CWE-400 (Uncontrolled Resource Consumption) realized through the classic XML Entity Expansion / 'billion laughs' pattern: a small file declares entities that reference other entities recursively, so a linear input expands exponentially in memory during parse. Because lxml is not configured with resolve_entities=False / no_network=True or a hardened parser (e.g. defusedxml), the expansion proceeds unchecked. Note this is entity-expansion DoS specifically - despite the 'XXE' label in the description and tags, the described impact is resource exhaustion (A:H), not external file/SSRF data exfiltration (which would show C impact).

RemediationAI

No vendor-released patched version is independently confirmed from the provided data - the references point to the project repository and NVD/Notion writeups, not a tagged release - so treat fixed-version claims cautiously and check https://github.com/docling-project/docling for a release above 2.61.0 before upgrading. As the primary code-level fix, harden XML parsing by disabling DTD/entity processing: parse the JATS input with a hardened parser such as defusedxml, or configure lxml with etree.XMLParser(resolve_entities=False, no_network=True, huge_tree=False) so entity expansion cannot occur (trade-off: documents that legitimately rely on custom entity definitions will fail to parse, which is acceptable for JATS ingestion). As compensating controls until patched, restrict the JATS/XML backend from processing untrusted or user-uploaded files, impose CPU/memory/time limits (ulimit, cgroups, container resource caps, or a parse timeout) on any process running Docling so a bomb payload is bounded rather than fatal, and gate ingestion behind file-size and structure validation. Advisory URLs: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-31247 and https://github.com/docling-project/docling.