Assessment
Why it matters
CISA lists this vulnerability as known to be exploited; exploitation is confirmed; EPSS is 88.6%; technical severity is CVSS 8.1.
The default configuration in Elasticsearch before 1.2 enables dynamic scripting, which allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary MVEL expressions and Java code via the source parameter to _search. NOTE: this only violates the vendor's intended security policy if the user does not run Elasticsearch in its own independent virtual machine.
Who should care
- Teams operating Elasticsearch
- Vulnerability and exposure management teams
- Security operations teams monitoring exploitation activity
Response plan
What I would do
- Confirm whether Elasticsearch is present in the environment.
- Identify affected versions and establish whether vulnerable services are exposed or reachable.
- Vendor advisory from www.elastic.co
- Review relevant security telemetry for evidence of attempted or successful exploitation.
- Document the remediation decision and track it to verified completion.
Treatment intelligence
Remediation intelligence
Vendor sources are listed before government and third-party guidance. Confirm product applicability and change prerequisites before deployment.
Verification noteAutomated link verification has not completed for this guidance yet.
Technical details
- CVSS vector
- CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N
- CWE
- CWE-284
- Affected versions
- Elastic Elasticsearch (End Excluding 1.2.0)
- Fixed versions
- Elastic Elasticsearch (Fixed from 1.2.0)
- Published
- 28 July 2014
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- Low
- User interaction
- None
Signal timeline
- CVE published
- Added to CISA KEV
- Latest EPSS score: 88.6%
- Signal calculated at 82
External references
- CISA Government advisory CVE-2014-3120
- Exploit information from bouk.co
- Exploit information from www.exploit-db.com
- Osvdb Technical reference 106949
- Exploit information from www.rapid7.com
- Exploit information from www.securityfocus.com
- Elastic Co Technical reference Logstash 1 4 3 Released
- Elastic Co Technical reference
- Exploit information from www.found.no