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Remote Code Execution in docling-core via unsafe PyYAML usage

High
vagenas published GHSA-vqxf-v2gg-x3hc Jan 22, 2026

Package

pip docling-core (pip)

Affected versions

>= 2.21.0, < 2.48.4

Patched versions

2.48.4

Description

Impact

A PyYAML-related Remote Code Execution (RCE) vulnerability, namely CVE-2020-14343, is exposed in docling-core >=2.21.0, <2.48.4 and, specifically only if the application uses pyyaml < 5.4 and invokes docling_core.types.doc.DoclingDocument.load_from_yaml() passing it untrusted YAML data.

Patches

The vulnerability has been patched in docling-core version 2.48.4.
The fix mitigates the issue by switching PyYAML deserialization from yaml.FullLoader to yaml.SafeLoader, ensuring that untrusted data cannot trigger code execution.

Workarounds

Users who cannot immediately upgrade docling-core can alternatively ensure that the installed version of PyYAML is 5.4 or greater, which supposedly patches CVE-2020-14343.

References

Severity

High

CVSS overall score

This score calculates overall vulnerability severity from 0 to 10 and is based on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS).
/ 10

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
High
Privileges required
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector: More severe the more the remote (logically and physically) an attacker can be in order to exploit the vulnerability.
Attack complexity: More severe for the least complex attacks.
Privileges required: More severe if no privileges are required.
User interaction: More severe when no user interaction is required.
Scope: More severe when a scope change occurs, e.g. one vulnerable component impacts resources in components beyond its security scope.
Confidentiality: More severe when loss of data confidentiality is highest, measuring the level of data access available to an unauthorized user.
Integrity: More severe when loss of data integrity is the highest, measuring the consequence of data modification possible by an unauthorized user.
Availability: More severe when the loss of impacted component availability is highest.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

CVE ID

CVE-2026-24009

Weaknesses

Deserialization of Untrusted Data

The product deserializes untrusted data without sufficiently ensuring that the resulting data will be valid. Learn more on MITRE.

Credits