CVE-2026-72642 Use of Out-of-range Pointer Offset in the Elasticsearch Machine Learning Native Inference Process
A user with model upload privileges can trigger heap corruption in Elasticsearch's native inference process, potentially leading to arbitrary code execution or crashes.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Any signed-in user
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2026-72642?
CVE-2026-72642 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Elastic Elasticsearch, published on 13 Aug 2026. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Official description
The native inference process that Elasticsearch uses to evaluate uploaded machine learning models accepts a model operation that computes a memory address from an offset supplied inside the model, without validating that the offset stays within the bounds of the underlying storage. A user with the privileges required to upload and deploy a trained model can craft a model that reads and writes memory outside the intended allocation. The result is heap corruption that crashes the inference process, and, with sufficient control over the heap layout, could allow arbitrary code execution in the context of that process.
Weakness: CWE-823
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-72642?
1 open source package ship an affected version, including elasticsearch. It affects 1 product.
| Package | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
elasticsearch Bitnami | From 8.19.0 | 8.19.20, 9.4.5, 9.5.1 |
Products include Elastic Elasticsearch.
How do I fix CVE-2026-72642?
Upgrade elasticsearch to a fixed version for your release line: 8.19.20, 9.4.5 or 9.5.1.
Upgrade to the fixed version. Memory-safe languages, compiler hardening and fuzzing prevent most new cases. More about Memory corruption.
Is CVE-2026-72642 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-72642 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Elastic Elasticsearch
- CVE-2015-1427 Elasticsearch Groovy Scripting Engine Remote Code Execution
- CVE-2014-3120 Elasticsearch Remote Code Execution
- CVE-2015-5377 Code injection in n/a
- CVE-2026-72649 Deserialization of Untrusted Data in Elasticsearch Leading to Remote Code Execution
- CVE-2020-7014 Privilege Escalation Flaw in Elasticsearch
Sources
Also known as BIT-elasticsearch-2026-72642, CLEANSTART-2026-AH85401, CLEANSTART-2026-XN90031, GHSA-2rm9-5cpg-f943, MINI-36j8-g4mf-67cq, MINI-4896-f5jv-r779 and 5 more.