Docling: Unsafe XML Entity Expansion in USPTO Patent Backend

CAO 7.5CVE-2026-44020 · GHSA-m88r-rg27-5xfg · PYSEC-2026-240 · Công bố 24/06/2026 · cập nhật 25/10/2026

Tóm tắt nhanh

CVE-2026-44020 là lỗ hổng mức CAO (CVSS 7.5) ảnh hưởng docling, docling (docling).
Xác suất bị khai thác trong 30 ngày tới (EPSS): 0.60%, cao hơn 48.8% các lỗ hổng khác.
Cách xử lý: cập nhật lên 2.74.0 hoặc mới hơn.

Gói / sản phẩm	Phiên bản bị ảnh hưởng	Phiên bản đã vá
docling PyPI	`≥ 2.13.0, < 2.74.0`	`2.74.0`
docling docling	`≥ 2.13.0, < 2.74.0`	`2.74.0`

Mô tả

Impact

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
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.

Patches

Fixed in version 2.74.0. The parser now uses defusedxml.sax.make_parser() with secure configuration that blocks external entity resolution (feature_external_ges=False, feature_external_pes=False) while allowing DTD declarations required by USPTO files. This prevents XXE attacks while maintaining compatibility with the USPTO XML format.

Workarounds

Avoid processing USPTO patent XML files from untrusted sources. Implement resource limits (memory, CPU time) when processing patent documents.

References

Fix release: v2.74.0

Mô tả của NVD

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.