# CVE-2026-14979: IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management XML entity expansion denial of service

Source: https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2026-14979-ibm-engineering-lifecycle-management-xml-entity-expansion-denial  
Publisher: Junglewise Threat Intelligence, https://junglewise.ai/threats  
Published: 2026-07-17. Updated: 2026-07-17  
License: CC BY 4.0 with a link back

CVE-2026-14979 · Severity: medium · CVSS 5.3 · Published 2026-07-17

IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management, a suite used by organizations to manage complex product development and software engineering lifecycles, is vulnerable to a denial-of-service attack. An attacker can exploit this flaw to crash the system or make it unresponsive, potentially halting engineering workflows and delaying project timelines. This issue affects the Jazz Foundation component and the DOORS requirements management tool.

Technologies: [IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management - Jazz Foundation](https://junglewise.ai/threats/technologies/engineering-lifecycle-management-jazz-foundation). Vendors: [IBM](https://junglewise.ai/threats/vendors/ibm).

## Quick answers

**Is CVE-2026-14979 exploited in the wild?** No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-2026-14979 being exploited in the wild.

**How severe is CVE-2026-14979?** Medium severity, with a CVSS score of 5.3, published 17 July 2026.

**Which products and versions are affected?** IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management - Jazz Foundation 7.0.3 (iFix001 through iFix021), 7.1.0 (iFix001 through iFix009), 7.2.0, 7.2.0 iFix001.

**Is there a fix for CVE-2026-14979?** No fixed version is recorded yet. Check the vendor's advisory in the references below. If you run it, Junglewise drafts a mitigation that fits your setup and applies it once you approve, with senior security engineers behind it.

**How is CVE-2026-14979 attacked?** It is attacked over the network, in a network appliance.

**Am I affected by CVE-2026-14979?** Check whether you run IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management - Jazz Foundation at an affected version. Junglewise does that check for you around the clock: connect your code, cloud and domains, and it matches new vulnerabilities like this one against what you actually run and tells you when one reaches you.

## Technical details

A vulnerability exists in the Jazz Foundation component of IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management (including DOORS) due to improper restriction of recursive entity references in DTDs (CWE-776). A remote, unauthenticated attacker can exploit this by sending a specially crafted XML document containing malicious entity expansions (often referred to as an XML bomb). When processed, this causes excessive resource consumption (CPU/memory), leading to a denial-of-service condition. The vulnerability is reachable over the network without user interaction. IBM has released interim fixes (iFixes) for versions 7.0.3, 7.1.0, and 7.2.0 to remediate this issue.

## Affected products

- IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management - Jazz Foundation 7.0.3 (iFix001 through iFix021), 7.1.0 (iFix001 through iFix009), 7.2.0, 7.2.0 iFix001

## Timeline

- 2026-07-14: advisory: Initial publication by IBM
- 2026-07-17: disclosed: NVD publication date

## References

- [https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/7279963](https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/7279963)

## Related threats

- [IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management RCE in Jazz Foundation](https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2026-4051-ibm-engineering-lifecycle-management-rce-in-jazz-foundation)
- [IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management auth bypass in Jazz Foundation](https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2026-3660-ibm-engineering-lifecycle-management-auth-bypass-in-jazz)
- [IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management XXE in Jazz Foundation](https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2026-3603-ibm-engineering-lifecycle-management-xxe-in-jazz-foundation)