Description
Uncontrolled Recursion (CWE-674) in Elasticsearch can lead to denial of service via Input Data Manipulation (CAPEC-153). An authenticated user holding only low-privileged index creation permissions can submit a single request containing a specially crafted, malformed custom analysis definition that is resolved recursively without a cycle or depth check, exhausting the thread stack and terminating the affected node.
Affected products
elastic: elasticsearch
References1
- discuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-8-19-20-9-4-5-security-updat… Vendor Advisory
Metrics
- CVSS 3.1
-
6.5
MEDIUM
Score source: CNA
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H - EPSS — exploit probability
- 0% percentile: 37 · as of 12 November 2026
- CWE
- CWE-674
Could this be exploited in your environment?
A patch closes the known hole. A penetration test shows what an attacker can still reach — with proof.