CVE-2025-25018 is a vulnerability classified under CWE-79 (Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation), specifically a stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) flaw in Elastic Kibana. This vulnerability affects versions 7.0.0, 8.0.0, 8.19.0, 9.0.0, and 9.1.0. The root cause is insufficient sanitization of user-supplied input that is embedded into web pages generated by Kibana, allowing an attacker to inject malicious JavaScript code that is stored and later executed in the context of other users’ browsers. The CVSS v3.1 score is 8.7, indicating high severity, with an attack vector of network (AV:N), low attack complexity (AC:L), requiring privileges (PR:L), user interaction (UI:R), and scope change (S:C). The impact on confidentiality and integrity is high, as attackers can steal session tokens, manipulate displayed data, or perform actions on behalf of the victim user. Availability is not affected. Exploitation requires the attacker to have some level of authenticated access to Kibana and to trick another user into interacting with the malicious payload. No public exploits are currently known, but the vulnerability poses a significant risk given Kibana’s role in data visualization and monitoring within Elastic Stack deployments. The lack of available patches at the time of publication necessitates immediate attention to mitigation strategies.

For European organizations, this vulnerability poses a significant risk to the confidentiality and integrity of sensitive operational and security data visualized through Kibana dashboards. Attackers exploiting this flaw could execute arbitrary scripts in the browsers of Kibana users, potentially leading to session hijacking, unauthorized data access, or manipulation of displayed information. This could undermine trust in monitoring systems, cause data leakage, or facilitate further lateral movement within networks. Organizations in sectors such as finance, telecommunications, energy, and government—where Elastic Stack is widely used for real-time analytics and security monitoring—are particularly vulnerable. The requirement for some level of user privileges and interaction limits the attack surface but does not eliminate the threat, especially in environments with many users and complex access rights. The absence of known exploits in the wild currently reduces immediate risk but should not lead to complacency given the high CVSS score and potential impact.

1. Monitor Elastic’s official channels for patches addressing CVE-2025-25018 and apply updates promptly once available. 2. Until patches are released, restrict Kibana access to trusted users only, minimizing the number of users with privileges that could be exploited. 3. Implement strict input validation and sanitization on all user inputs that Kibana processes, including custom plugins or integrations. 4. Deploy Content Security Policy (CSP) headers to limit the execution of unauthorized scripts within Kibana’s web interface. 5. Educate users about the risks of interacting with untrusted links or content within Kibana dashboards. 6. Review and tighten role-based access controls (RBAC) to ensure least privilege principles are enforced. 7. Monitor Kibana logs for unusual activity that could indicate exploitation attempts. 8. Consider network segmentation to isolate Kibana instances from broader enterprise networks where feasible. 9. Use web application firewalls (WAFs) with rules designed to detect and block XSS payloads targeting Kibana. 10. Conduct security assessments and penetration tests focusing on web interface vulnerabilities regularly.