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Kibana EUVDEUVD-2026-69574

| CVE-2026-78597 MEDIUM
Missing Authorization (CWE-862)
2026-09-01 elastic GHSA-hw7g-86hr-vpjv
4.3
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 low-privilege Security access
  2. Delivery
    Send crafted request to Entity Store admin endpoint
  3. Exploit
    Bypass missing authorization check (CWE-862)
  4. Execution
    Elasticsearch API key created under attacker identity
  5. Impact
    Use API key for persistent direct Elasticsearch access

Vulnerability Assessment

Weakness
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A01:2025 - Broken Access Control
ASVS 5.0
V8 - Authorization Authorization checks on every request
MITRE ATT&CK

1 technique across 1 tactic: Privilege Escalation

The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up.

Exploitation Conditions

Exploitation requires an active, authenticated Kibana session scoped to at least low-privilege Security feature access - a standard user account assigned to the Kibana Security application suffices. The Kibana Security feature, which includes Entity Store, must be enabled; this is the expected configuration in security-focused Elastic Stack deployments (SIEM, threat detection). No elevated OS privileges, special network position, or non-default Kibana configuration is needed beyond this baseline. Limiting factors: the attacker must possess a valid Kibana credential, ruling out unauthenticated external actors; and the API keys are created under the attacker's own low-privilege identity rather than granting arbitrary administrative control, so further exploitation depends on what that identity can access via direct Elasticsearch API calls.

Impact

The vendor CVSS score of 4.3 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N) captures network-accessible exploitation by an authenticated low-privilege user but assigns I:N, which understates real-world impact: unauthorized creation of persistent Elasticsearch API keys is an integrity violation - those credentials exist beyond the Kibana session and could be leveraged for direct Elasticsearch access that circumvents Kibana's access controls entirely. EPSS data is absent from the input; no CISA KEV listing exists, and no public exploit has been confirmed, indicating this is not under active widespread exploitation. Realistic risk is moderate-to-elevated for organizations where Kibana Security feature access is granted broadly: the prerequisite of a valid low-privilege account limits external attackers but makes insider abuse or post-compromise lateral movement a credible path. The integrity concern lifts practical priority above what the 4.3 score implies.

Exploit ScenarioDerived

An attacker holding a routine low-privilege Kibana account with Security feature access sends a crafted HTTP request directly to the Entity Store initialization endpoint, bypassing the authorization check. The operation completes successfully, creating and persisting an Elasticsearch API key under the attacker's identity. The attacker then uses this API key to query Elasticsearch directly - outside Kibana's session and access controls - for as long as the key remains valid.

This Month Plan within 30 days. Why: MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9).
No patch listed yet 0.2% exploitation probability (EPSS)

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AnalysisAIv1 – Sep 01, 2026

Kibana's Entity Store feature permits a low-privilege authenticated Security user to invoke an administrative initialization operation that creates and persists Elasticsearch API keys without holding the elevated cluster and Kibana privileges the documented setup flow mandates. The root cause is CWE-862 Missing Authorization - the endpoint does not verify the caller meets the required permission tier before executing the privileged action. Elastic has released fixes in versions 8.19.21 and 9.4.6 per ESA-2026-155; no public exploit has been identified at time of analysis.

RemediationAI

Upgrade Kibana to version 8.19.21 (8.x) or 9.4.6 (9.x) per Elastic advisory ESA-2026-155 at https://discuss.elastic.co/t/kibana-8-19-21-9-4-6-security-update-esa-2026-155/390072. Because the vulnerability allows creation of durable Elasticsearch API keys, patching alone is insufficient - after upgrading, audit all Elasticsearch API keys associated with low-privilege Kibana Security users and revoke any that were created without explicit administrative authorization, since those keys persist independently of the patched code path. As an interim control before patching, restrict Kibana Security feature access to only users who operationally require it, reducing the pool of accounts that could trigger the vulnerable endpoint.

Affected VersionsENISA

Kibana 8.0.0 ≤8.19.20
Kibana 9.0.3 ≤9.4.5

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 visualization and management front-end for the Elastic Stack. Its Entity Store is a Kibana Security sub-feature that maintains enriched entity records (users, hosts) used by security analytics. Proper Entity Store initialization is intended to require elevated cluster-level Elasticsearch permissions and elevated Kibana privileges so that the feature can register its own API keys for backend operations. The affected CPE cpe:2.3:a:elastic:kibana:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* spans all Kibana versions prior to the fix. CWE-862 (Missing Authorization) indicates the server-side handler does not enforce the permission gate, allowing the CAPEC-1 pattern - accessing functionality not properly constrained by ACLs - to succeed with only low-privilege Security feature access. The Elasticsearch API keys produced are durable credentials stored in Elasticsearch, surviving the originating Kibana session.

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Severity by source

Vendor (elastic) PRIMARY 4.3 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N
vuln.today AI 5.4 MEDIUM

Unauthorized creation of persistent Elasticsearch API keys constitutes an integrity violation (I:L) omitted from the vendor vector; all other metrics align with the description.

3.1 AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N
4.0 AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:L/VI:L/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
Low
Integrity
None
Availability
None

DescriptionCVE.org

Missing Authorization (CWE-862) in the Kibana Entity Store feature can lead to unauthorized credential creation via Accessing Functionality Not Properly Constrained by ACLs (CAPEC-1). An authenticated user holding only low-privilege Security feature access could invoke an administrative operation that creates and persists Elasticsearch API keys under the caller's identity, bypassing the elevated cluster and Kibana privileges that the documented Entity Store setup flow requires.

Threat Intelligence Overview

EPSS Score
0.2%
Top 93% exploitable
Prevalence
High
widely deployed ELK stack UI across enterprise security and observability teams
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 0.2%
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

22
Low Medium High Critical
KEV: 0
EPSS: 0
CVSS: +22
PoC: 0
Weaponized: 0
Threat intel: 0
Gov advisory: 0

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