Uncontrolled Resource ConsumptionWeakness · CWE-400

CVE-2026-31247

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-05-11
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
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.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

Docling's JATS XML backend uses etree.parse() to parse XML files without disabling entity resolution, allowing an attacker to embed nested entity expansion (XML Bomb) in a malicious XML file. When parsed, the exponential entity expansion consumes excessive CPU and memory, causing denial of service.

MitigationDisable entity resolution and DTD processing in the XML parser by configuring etree to ignore external entities and not process DOCTYPE declarations.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

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

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Verify Docling is installed
    Run `pip show docling` or `pip list | grep -i docling` to confirm Docling package is present in your environment
    Affected if Docling is not installed, the vulnerability does not apply
  2. Identify Docling version
    Check the installed version using `pip show docling` and compare it to the affected version range provided for this CVE
    Affected if The installed version falls within the affected version range and JATS XML parsing is in use
  3. Confirm JATS XML backend usage
    Inspect your code or configuration for imports or usage of docling's JATS-related modules (such as `docling.backend.jats_backend` or similar JATS XML parsing functionality)
    Affected if JATS XML backend is being used to parse XML files
  4. Check for untrusted XML file processing
    Review your application's workflow to determine if it parses XML files from untrusted or external sources using Docling's JATS backend
    Affected if The application parses untrusted XML files through Docling's JATS backend, enabling potential XML bomb attacks

You are affected if Docling is installed within the CVE's affected version range and your application uses Docling's JATS XML backend to parse untrusted or external XML files without external entity resolution disabled.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Disable entity resolution and DTD processing in the XML parser by configuring etree to ignore external entities and not process DOCTYPE declarations.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
7.0 hours of engineering $1,240
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Scan for this in your stack

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2026-31247 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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