CVE-2026-44033 Uncontrolled recursion in the DCMTK bundled XML parser allows denial of service
An attacker can cause a denial of service via stack exhaustion by providing a crafted XML document to the DCMTK library's bundled parser.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- A user has to click or open something
- Fix
- None listed
What is CVE-2026-44033?
CVE-2026-44033 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in OFFIS DCMTK, published on 8 Oct 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Official description
Uncontrolled recursion in XMLNode::ParseXMLElement() and XMLNode::emptyTheNode() in the bundled XML parser (ofstd/libsrc/ofxml.cc) of OFFIS DCMTK 3.7.0 allows an attacker to cause a denial of service (stack exhaustion and process crash) via a crafted XML document with deeply nested elements. The parser is reachable through dcmencap when encapsulating a CDA document, and through any application that calls OFXMLParser::parseFile() or OFXMLParser::parseString() on untrusted input. The issue is fixed in commit d12e350e687530eb41e2b0c860aff4d8c04e5941.
Weakness: CWE-674
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-44033?
How do I fix CVE-2026-44033?
No fix has been published for CVE-2026-44033 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.
Upgrade, then put limits on request size, rate and nesting depth so one client cannot exhaust the service. More about Denial of service.
Is CVE-2026-44033 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-44033 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as DEBIAN-CVE-2026-44033, GHSA-g7gr-959v-68f6, UBUNTU-CVE-2026-44033.