CVE-2026-53752

docx4j: Stack Overflow via Cyclic `w:basedOn` Style Chain leads to Denial of Service

State: Published
Severity: 7.5 High
Published: Sep 14, 2026
Updated: Sep 16, 2026
Reserved: Jun 10, 2026

Description

docx4j is an open source Java library for creating, editing, and saving OpenXML packages, including DOCX, PPTX, and XLSX files. Prior to 11.5.14, PropertyResolver and adjacent helpers recursively follow the WordprocessingML w:basedOn style inheritance chain without cycle detection. A well-formed DOCX containing mutually based styles causes unbounded recursion in PropertyResolver.fillPPrStack and related effective-style resolution paths, resulting in StackOverflowError. Server-side conversion and table-of-contents processing of an untrusted document can terminate a worker thread, degrade a thread pool, or deny service, although isolation in disposable workers or safe containment of StackOverflowError can reduce the practical effect. The fix adds cyclic-style tracking and CyclicStylesException handling. This issue is fixed in version 11.5.14.

Scores

CVSS	Score	Vector	Source
3.1	7.5 High	CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H	GitHub_M

Weaknesses

CWE-674 Uncontrolled Recursion
CWE-770 Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling

Affected Products

Product	Versions
docx4jplutext	< 11.5.14Affected
docx4j-coreorg.docx4j	< 11.5.14Affected

References

Every record here comes from the CVE Program’s CVE List. © 1999–2026 The MITRE Corporation. CVE is a registered trademark of The MITRE Corporation. The records are reproduced under the CVE Program terms of use.