Authorization Bypass Through User-Controlled Key in Kibana Leading to Unauthorized Data Modification in Kibana (CVE-2026-78581)
Description
CVE-2026-78581 is an authorization bypass vulnerability in Kibana that allows an authenticated user to access or modify another user's AI Assistant conversation by referencing a user-controlled, hard-to-guess conversation identifier. This occurs due to insufficient access control enforcement on conversation identifiers. The vulnerability affects Kibana versions 8.0.0 up to but not including 8.16.3, and 8.17.0 up to but not including 8.17.2. A patch is available to address this issue. No known exploits are reported in the wild.
Affected software
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AI-Powered Analysis
Machine-generated threat intelligence
Technical Analysis
This vulnerability in Kibana involves an authorization bypass through a user-controlled key, specifically the AI Assistant conversation identifier. An authenticated user can potentially access or modify conversations they do not own if they know the identifier, which is intended to be hard to guess. The root cause is functionality not properly constrained by access control lists (ACLs). The affected versions are >=8.0.0 <8.16.3 and >=8.17.0 <8.17.2. A fix has been released to correct the access control enforcement.
Potential Impact
An attacker with valid authentication can access or modify AI Assistant conversations belonging to other users by exploiting insufficient access control on conversation identifiers. This could lead to unauthorized data modification within Kibana. There are no reports of active exploitation in the wild.
Mitigation Recommendations
A patch is available for this vulnerability. Users should upgrade Kibana to versions 8.16.3 or later, or 8.17.2 or later, to remediate the authorization bypass issue. Applying the official fix will prevent unauthorized access or modification of AI Assistant conversations.
Technical Details
- Gcve Source
- db.gcve.eu
- Osv Id
- BIT-kibana-2026-78581
- Osv Schema Version
- 1.6.2
- Aliases
- ["CVE-2026-78581"]
- Ecosystems
- ["Bitnami"]
- Database Specific Severity
- Medium
- State
- PUBLISHED
Threat ID: 6a95a0fdacd9273b4947e8cb
Added to database: 08/31/2026, 15:42:53 UTC
Last enriched: 09/09/2026, 10:53:16 UTC
Last updated: 10/14/2026, 06:48:21 UTC
Views: 39
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