CVE-2026-24009: Docling Core vulnerable to Remote Code Execution via unsafe PyYAML usage

Severity: critical (CVSS 9.8 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 1.5% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2026-01-22 · updated 2026-06-17
Weakness: CWE-502

Description

Docling Core (or docling-core) is a library that defines core data types and transformations in the document processing application Docling. A PyYAML-related Remote Code Execution (RCE) vulnerability, namely CVE-2020-14343, is exposed in docling-core starting in version 2.21.0 and prior to version 2.48.4, specifically only if the application uses pyyaml prior to version 5.4 and invokes `docling_core.types.doc.DoclingDocument.load_from_yaml()` passing it untrusted YAML data. 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. Users who cannot immediately upgrade docling-core can alternatively ensure that the installed version of PyYAML is 5.4 or greater.

Affected products

docling-project docling-core: from 2.21.0 before 2.48.4 — fixed in 2.48.4

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: docling-project docling-core 2.48.4. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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