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Kibana EUVDEUVD-2026-69567

| CVE-2026-72654 MEDIUM
Execution with Unnecessary Privileges (CWE-250)
2026-09-01 elastic GHSA-g5v5-hvmc-hhx2
6.5
CVSS 3.1 · Vendor: elastic
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Attack ChainAIDerived

Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain

  1. Access
    Authenticate to Kibana with ML read role
  2. Delivery
    Navigate to Kibana machine learning feature
  3. Exploit
    Trigger ML read operation (e.g., view anomaly results)
  4. Execution
    Kibana queries Elasticsearch as internal service identity
  5. Impact
    Restricted index data returned to unauthorized user

Vulnerability Assessment

Weakness
CWE
ASVS 5.0
V8 - Authorization Unnecessary privilege execution
Exploitation Conditions

Exploitation requires a valid Kibana user account with read access to the machine learning feature (e.g., the built-in ml_viewer role or any custom role granting ML read). The flaw is triggered through specific ML read-path operations in Kibana's ML UI - not all Kibana functionality is affected. Crucially, no Elasticsearch cluster or index privileges are required of the attacking account; Kibana's internal service identity supplies those implicitly. Deployments where ML access is restricted to administrators or where the Kibana ML feature is disabled (xpack.ml.enabled: false) are not exposed. The attack is limited to authenticated sessions against Kibana instances on affected versions.

Impact

The CVSS 6.5 vector (AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N) is accurate and internally consistent: the attack is network-reachable, requires no special conditions, demands only a low-privilege Kibana account (ML read role), and yields high confidentiality impact with no integrity or availability consequence. The C:H rating is well-supported - any Elasticsearch index readable by the service account is potentially exposed, which in production ELK deployments often includes application logs, security events, and business data. The vulnerability is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog and no public exploit code has been identified, which lowers immediate exploitation pressure. However, the low complexity and broad user population (ML reader is a commonly granted analyst role) means exploitation is straightforward for any insider or compromised account. EPSS data was not supplied; given the trivial exploitation bar, the real-world risk warrants urgent patching regardless of the moderate CVSS score.

Exploit ScenarioDerived

An authenticated Kibana analyst with the ml_viewer role navigates to the Anomaly Detection section and views job results. Kibana internally queries Elasticsearch using its service account rather than the analyst's credentials, returning data from restricted indices - such as security audit logs or financial time-series data - that the analyst's own Elasticsearch role would not permit. No additional tooling, special configuration, or elevated privileges beyond the standard ML reader role are required.

This Month Plan within 30 days. Why: MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9).
No patch listed yet 0.3% exploitation probability (EPSS)

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AnalysisAIv1 – Sep 01, 2026

Privilege abuse in Kibana's machine learning feature allows any user holding read-only ML access to retrieve data from Elasticsearch indices they are not authorized to see. The flaw (CWE-250) occurs because Kibana executes certain ML read operations under an internal service identity rather than forwarding the requesting user's credentials to Elasticsearch, effectively bypassing Elasticsearch's index-level access controls. Elastic self-disclosed the issue in ESA-2026-135 and released fixes across three active release lines; no public exploit code has been identified.

RemediationAI

Upgrade Kibana to version 8.19.21, 9.4.6, or 9.5.2 as appropriate for your release line, per Elastic security advisory ESA-2026-135 (https://discuss.elastic.co/t/kibana-8-19-21-9-4-6-9-5-2-security-update-esa-2026-135/390091). If immediate upgrade is not feasible, restrict Kibana machine learning read access to only those accounts that strictly require it - reducing the ml_viewer role assignment limits the pool of potential actors but does not eliminate the vulnerability. As a stronger compensating control, the ML feature can be disabled entirely by setting xpack.ml.enabled: false in kibana.yml; note this removes all ML functionality for all users and requires a Kibana restart. Elastic Cloud customers should consult Elastic support for managed upgrade scheduling.

Affected VersionsENISA

Kibana 9.0.0 ≤9.4.5
Kibana 8.0.0 ≤8.19.20
Kibana 9.5.0 ≤9.5.1

Affected Packages

euvd kibana no fix

Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)

Affects your stack

Affects 1 package in euvd

Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.

Technical ContextAI · show details

Kibana is the web-based visualization and management UI for the Elastic Stack, and its machine learning subsystem communicates with Elasticsearch to retrieve anomaly detection results, model data, and related index content. Under normal operation, Kibana should proxy requests on behalf of the authenticated user so that Elasticsearch can enforce that user's index privileges. In this case the ML read path instead uses Kibana's own internal service account credentials (CWE-250: Execution with Unnecessary Privileges), which carry broader index-read rights than any given human user should possess. The exploitation pattern is classified as CAPEC-122 (Privilege Abuse): no vulnerability in Elasticsearch itself is involved - the confused-deputy flaw resides entirely in Kibana's credential-forwarding logic. Affected product per CPE: cpe:2.3:a:elastic:kibana:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*.

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Severity by source

Vendor (elastic) PRIMARY 6.5 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
vuln.today AI 6.5 MEDIUM

PR:L reflects required Kibana ML read role; C:H because arbitrary ES index data is exposed; no integrity or availability impact exists.

3.1 AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
4.0 AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

Primary rating from Vendor (elastic).

CVSS VectorVendor: elastic

Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
Low
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
None
Availability
None

DescriptionCVE.org

Execution with Unnecessary Privileges (CWE-250) in the Kibana machine learning feature can lead to information disclosure via Privilege Abuse (CAPEC-122). An operation available to users holding only read access to the machine learning feature was performed with an internal service identity rather than the identity of the requesting user. Such a user could therefore receive data from Elasticsearch indices they are not authorized to read. No Elasticsearch cluster or index privileges are required.

Threat Intelligence Overview

EPSS Score
0.3%
Top 73% exploitable
Prevalence
High
core Elastic Stack component, widely deployed in enterprise log and observability infrastructure
Data Quality
5 sources
Confidence: Medium

How this decision was reached

The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.

SignalValue
Severity MEDIUM
CISA KEV No
Public POC No
EPSS 0.3%
Patch available No
Active threat No
Deciding rule
MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9)
What every action level means
Emergency Immediate action required. Criteria: CRITICAL + in CISA KEV (actively exploited) without patch, OR CRITICAL + EPSS > 30% without patch, OR CRITICAL + active threat signals without patch.
Act Now Prioritize within 24-48h. Criteria: in KEV with patch available, OR CRITICAL + public POC, OR HIGH + EPSS > 10%, OR CRITICAL + active threat, OR any CRITICAL severity.
This Week Schedule remediation this week. Criteria: HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9). Patch within normal change window.
This Month Plan within 30 days. Criteria: MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9), lower exploitation probability. Include in regular patch cycle.
Monitor Track and reassess. Criteria: LOW severity (CVSS 0.1-3.9), minimal exploitation risk. No immediate action needed.

SSVC AssessmentENISA

SSVC Decision· derived
Scheduled
Exploitation
None
System Exposure· derived
Open
Automatable
No
Human Impact· derived
High
Technical Impact
Partial

Priority Score

32
Low Medium High Critical
KEV: 0
EPSS: 0
CVSS: +32
PoC: 0
Weaponized: 0
Threat intel: 0
Gov advisory: 0

Attack Technique

Privilege escalation occurs when an attacker leverages flaws in access control mechanisms to gain permissions beyond what they were originally granted.

Information disclosure occurs when an application unintentionally exposes sensitive data that aids attackers in reconnaissance or directly compromises security.

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