CVE-2025-68386 is a vulnerability classified under CWE-863 (Incorrect Authorization) found in Elastic Kibana versions 7.0.0 through 9.2.0. The flaw arises from improper enforcement of authorization checks when an authenticated user attempts to change a document's sharing type. Specifically, a user lacking the necessary permissions can craft an HTTP request to set a document's sharing scope to "global," thereby making it accessible to all users within the same Kibana space. This results in privilege escalation (CAPEC-233) by expanding access beyond what was originally intended by the access control policies. The vulnerability does not allow direct data exfiltration or denial of service but compromises the integrity of access controls, potentially exposing sensitive dashboards or reports to unauthorized users. The CVSS v3.1 score is 4.3 (medium), reflecting that the attack vector is network-based with low complexity and requires privileges but no user interaction. No patches are currently linked, and no known exploits have been observed in the wild, indicating that the vulnerability is newly disclosed. The issue is critical in environments where Kibana is used to visualize sensitive or regulated data, as unauthorized sharing can lead to compliance violations or insider threat risks. The vulnerability highlights the importance of strict authorization checks in multi-tenant or role-based access control systems within enterprise analytics platforms.

For European organizations, this vulnerability poses a risk of unauthorized data exposure within Kibana environments. While it does not directly compromise confidentiality or availability, the ability to escalate privileges and change document sharing to a global scope can lead to sensitive dashboards or reports being viewed by unauthorized users. This can result in insider threat scenarios, compliance breaches (e.g., GDPR concerns if personal data is exposed), and loss of trust in data governance. Organizations relying heavily on Kibana for operational intelligence, security monitoring, or business analytics may face increased risk of internal data leakage. The impact is particularly significant in sectors with strict data access policies such as finance, healthcare, and government. Since exploitation requires authentication, the threat is limited to users who already have some level of access, but the ease of privilege escalation means that even low-privileged users can gain broader visibility. This could facilitate further attacks or misuse of data within the organization.

1. Monitor and audit Kibana document sharing changes regularly to detect unauthorized modifications to sharing scopes. 2. Implement strict role-based access control (RBAC) policies limiting which users can modify document sharing settings. 3. Restrict Kibana user accounts to the minimum necessary privileges, avoiding granting write or sharing permissions broadly. 4. Use network segmentation and access controls to limit Kibana access to trusted users and systems only. 5. Apply patches or updates from Elastic as soon as they become available for this vulnerability. 6. Employ Web Application Firewalls (WAF) or API gateways to detect and block suspicious HTTP requests attempting to alter sharing settings. 7. Educate administrators and users about the risks of privilege escalation and the importance of secure sharing practices. 8. Consider additional logging and alerting on Kibana API calls related to document sharing changes to enable rapid incident response.