VulnerabilityPublished 18 Dec 2025

CVE-2025-68388: Elastic Packetbeat · Unthrottled Resource Allocation

Affects Elastic PacketbeatSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 5.3 Medium.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 15:59 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

5.3Medium

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.4% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 35% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: None
Integrity: None
Availability: Low

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed, up to and including the entire Internet. Such a vulnerability is often termed 'remotely exploitable' and can be thought of as an attack being exploitable at the protocol level one or more network hops away (e.g., across one or more routers).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: None: The attacker is unauthorized prior to attack, and therefore does not require any access to settings or files to carry out an attack.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
Confidentiality: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the impacted component.
Integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the impacted component.
Availability: Low: Performance is reduced or there are interruptions in resource availability. Even if repeated exploitation of the vulnerability is possible, the attacker does not have the ability to completely deny service to legitimate users. The resources in the impacted component are either partially available all of the time, or fully available only some of the time, but overall there is no direct, serious consequence to the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 18 Dec 2025
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 26 Oct 2026.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC or the CVSS exploit maturity reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
Elastic Packetbeat	Affected =8.6.0 =9.0.0 =9.2.0	Fixed in–

AI-suggested

Monitor Elastic's official channels for patches addressing CVE-2025-68388 and apply them promptly once released.
Implement network-level filtering to detect and block suspicious or malformed IPv4 fragments before they reach Packetbeat instances. This can be done via firewalls or intrusion prevention systems configured to drop fragmented packets that do not conform to expected patterns.
Deploy rate limiting or traffic shaping on network segments feeding Packetbeat to reduce the risk of resource exhaustion from high volumes of fragmented packets.
Continuously monitor Packetbeat resource utilization (CPU, memory) to detect abnormal spikes that may indicate exploitation attempts.
Consider isolating Packetbeat instances on dedicated hardware or virtual machines to contain the impact of resource exhaustion.
Review and harden network segmentation to limit exposure of Packetbeat to untrusted networks.
Use anomaly detection tools to identify unusual network fragmentation patterns indicative of attack attempts.
Educate network operations and security teams about this vulnerability to ensure rapid response and mitigation.

Description

Allocation of resources without limits or throttling (CWE-770) allows an unauthenticated remote attacker to cause excessive allocation (CAPEC-130) of memory and CPU via the integration of malicious IPv4 fragments, leading to a degradation in Packetbeat.

Impact

For European organizations, the primary impact is on the availability of Packetbeat services used for network monitoring and security analytics. Packetbeat is often deployed in critical infrastructure, financial institutions, telecommunications, and large enterprises to provide real-time network visibility. Disruption or degradation of Packetbeat can delay detection of network anomalies, intrusions, or performance issues, increasing the risk of undetected attacks or operational failures. Organizations relying heavily on Elastic Stack for security monitoring may experience gaps in their security posture during an attack exploiting this vulnerability. Additionally, resource exhaustion on monitoring nodes could cascade into broader system instability if Packetbeat runs on shared infrastructure. The medium severity rating indicates that while the threat is significant, it does not directly expose sensitive data or allow system compromise. However, the ease of exploitation without authentication and the potential for denial of service make it a notable risk for European entities with high Packetbeat usage.

CWE-770Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessLikelihood of exploit: HighCWE Top 25 (2025): #25
The product allocates a reusable resource or group of resources on behalf of an actor without imposing any intended restrictions on the size or number of resources that can be allocated.
Requirements
Clearly specify the minimum and maximum expectations for capabilities, and dictate which behaviors are acceptable when resource allocation reaches limits.
Architecture and Design
Limit the amount of resources that are accessible to unprivileged users. Set per-user limits for resources. Allow the system administrator to define these limits. Be careful to avoid CWE-410.
Architecture and Design
Design throttling mechanisms into the system architecture. The best protection is to limit the amount of resources that an unauthorized user can cause to be expended.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Abuse Case (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V8.1.4 (opens in a new tab)
V13.4.1 (opens in a new tab)
V11.1.4 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
XML Ping of the Death (opens in a new tab)
Exponential Data Expansion (opens in a new tab)
Serialized Data Parameter Blowup (opens in a new tab)
Serialized Data with Nested Payloads (opens in a new tab)
Oversized Serialized Data Payloads (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

discuss.elastic.co/t/packetbeat-8-19-9-9-1-9-and-9-2-3-security-update-esa-2025-29/384177 (opens in a new tab)

Community reviews

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 25 Dec 2025, 22:23 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-770

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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