CVE-2025-68422VulnerabilityPublished 18 Dec 2025

CVE-2025-68422: Elastic Kibana · Incorrect Authorization

Affects Elastic KibanaSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 4.3 Medium.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 07:57 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

4.3Medium

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

EPSS: 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 13% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

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

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

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: Low: The attacker is authorized with (i.e., requires) privileges that provide basic user capabilities that could normally affect only settings and files owned by a user. Alternatively, an attacker with Low privileges may have the ability to cause an impact only to non-sensitive resources.
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: Low: There is some loss of confidentiality. Access to some restricted information is obtained, but the attacker does not have control over what information is obtained, or the amount or kind of loss is limited. The information disclosure does not cause a direct, serious loss to the impacted component.
Integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the impacted component.
Availability: None: There is no impact to availability within 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 2026-10-26.

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 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 Kibana	Affected =7.0.0 =8.0.0 =9.0.0 =9.2.0	Fixed in–

AI-suggested

1. Monitor Elastic's official channels for patches addressing CVE-2025-68422 and apply them promptly once available. 2. Restrict Kibana access strictly to trusted users and networks using network segmentation, VPNs, or IP whitelisting to reduce exposure. 3. Enforce the principle of least privilege by reviewing and minimizing user permissions, ensuring only necessary users have access to Kibana and its live query features. 4. Implement robust authentication mechanisms, including multi-factor authentication (MFA), to reduce the risk of credential compromise. 5. Enable detailed logging and monitoring of Kibana API requests to detect unusual or unauthorized access attempts, focusing on live query endpoints. 6. Consider deploying Web Application Firewalls (WAFs) or API gateways to filter and block suspicious crafted HTTP requests targeting Kibana. 7. Educate administrators and users about the risks of privilege escalation and the importance of credential security. 8. Regularly audit Kibana configurations and user roles to ensure compliance with security policies.

Description

Improper Authorization (CWE-285) in Kibana can lead to privilege escalation (CAPEC-233) by allowing an authenticated user to bypass intended permission restrictions via a crafted HTTP request. This allows an attacker who lacks the live queries - read permission to successfully retrieve the list of live queries.

Impact

For European organizations, the primary impact is unauthorized disclosure of live query information within Kibana, which could reveal sensitive operational or security monitoring data. This exposure may aid attackers in understanding internal query patterns, potentially facilitating further attacks or reconnaissance. Organizations relying on Kibana for security event monitoring, threat hunting, or compliance reporting could see a reduction in data confidentiality. Although the vulnerability does not allow data modification or service disruption, the leakage of live queries could indirectly weaken security postures. Given the widespread use of Elastic Stack in European enterprises, especially in sectors like finance, telecommunications, and government, the risk is non-trivial. Attackers with valid credentials (e.g., compromised user accounts) can exploit this vulnerability remotely without user interaction, increasing the threat surface. The absence of known exploits in the wild reduces immediate risk but does not eliminate the need for proactive mitigation.

CWE-863Incorrect Authorization (opens in a new tab)
Class weaknessLikelihood of exploit: HighCWE Top 25 (2025): #17OWASP Top 10 A01:2025: Broken Access Control (opens in a new tab)
The product performs an authorization check when an actor attempts to access a resource or perform an action, but it does not correctly perform the check.
Architecture and Design
Divide the product into anonymous, normal, privileged, and administrative areas. Reduce the attack surface by carefully mapping roles with data and functionality. Use role-based access control (RBAC) to enforce the roles at the appropriate boundaries.
Architecture and Design
Ensure that access control checks are performed related to the business logic. These checks may be different than the access control checks that are applied to more generic resources such as files, connections, processes, memory, and database records.
Architecture and Design · Libraries or Frameworks
Use a vetted library or framework that does not allow this weakness to occur or provides constructs that make this weakness easier to avoid.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Authorization (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V8.3.8 (opens in a new tab)
V13.4.2 (opens in a new tab)
V7.2.2 (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

discuss.elastic.co/t/kibana-8-19-7-9-1-7-and-9-2-1-security-update-esa-2025-39/384187 (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, 23:38 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-863

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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