CVE-2026-0529VulnerabilityPublished 14 Jan 2026

CVE-2026-0529: Elastic Packetbeat · Improper Validation of Array Index

Affects Elastic PacketbeatSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 6.5 Medium.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 06:26 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

6.5Medium

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:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

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

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

Attack Vector: Adjacent: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack, but the attack is limited at the protocol level to a logically adjacent topology. This can mean an attack must be launched from the same shared physical (e.g., Bluetooth or IEEE 802.11) or logical (e.g., local IP subnet) network, or from within a secure or otherwise limited administrative domain (e.g., MPLS, secure VPN to an administrative network zone).
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: High: There is total loss of availability, resulting in the attacker being able to fully deny access to resources in the impacted component; this loss is either sustained (while the attacker continues to deliver the attack) or persistent (the condition persists even after the attack has completed). Alternatively, the attacker has the ability to deny some availability, but the loss of availability presents a direct, serious consequence to the impacted component (e.g., the attacker cannot disrupt existing connections, but can prevent new connections; the attacker can repeatedly exploit a vulnerability that, in each instance of a successful attack, leaks a only small amount of memory, but after repeated exploitation causes a service to become completely unavailable).

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 14 Jan 2026
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
ElasticPacketbeat	Affected >=7.0.0 <=7.17.29 >=8.0.0 <=8.19.9 >=9.0.0 <=9.1.9 >=9.2.0 <=9.2.3	Fixed in–

AI-suggested

European organizations should immediately review their Packetbeat deployments to identify if MongoDB protocol parsing is enabled on monitored interfaces. If feasible, disable MongoDB protocol parsing until a patch is available. Network segmentation should be enforced to restrict access to Packetbeat monitoring interfaces, limiting exposure to trusted hosts only. Implement strict network access controls and monitoring to detect anomalous malformed MongoDB traffic. Employ intrusion detection/prevention systems (IDS/IPS) to flag suspicious packets targeting Packetbeat. Regularly update Packetbeat and Elastic Stack components once patches are released by Elastic. Conduct internal audits to ensure Packetbeat is running with least privilege and consider deploying fallback monitoring solutions to maintain visibility in case of Packetbeat disruption. Finally, maintain incident response readiness to quickly address any potential exploitation attempts.

Description

Improper Validation of Array Index (CWE-129) in Packetbeat’s MongoDB protocol parser can allow an attacker to cause Overflow Buffers (CAPEC-100) through specially crafted network traffic. This requires an attacker to send a malformed payload to a monitored network interface where MongoDB protocol parsing is enabled.

Impact

For European organizations, the primary impact is the potential denial of service of Packetbeat monitoring systems that analyze MongoDB traffic. This can lead to loss of network visibility, delayed detection of malicious activity, and disruption of security operations. Organizations relying on Packetbeat for real-time monitoring of critical infrastructure or sensitive data flows may experience operational degradation. The vulnerability does not directly compromise data confidentiality or integrity but can indirectly increase risk by reducing monitoring effectiveness. Industries such as finance, telecommunications, energy, and government agencies in Europe that use Elastic Stack extensively for network monitoring are particularly at risk. The requirement for adjacent network access limits remote exploitation but insider threats or compromised internal hosts could exploit this vulnerability. The absence of known exploits reduces immediate risk, but the lack of patches means the vulnerability remains open for potential future attacks.

CWE-129Improper Validation of Array Index (opens in a new tab)
Variant weaknessLikelihood of exploit: HighOWASP Top 10 A05:2025: Injection (opens in a new tab)
The product uses untrusted input when calculating or using an array index, but the product does not validate or incorrectly validates the index to ensure the index references a valid position within the array.
Architecture and Design · Input Validation
Use an input validation framework such as Struts or the OWASP ESAPI Validation API. Note that using a framework does not automatically address all input validation problems; be mindful of weaknesses that could arise from misusing the framework itself (CWE-1173).
Architecture and Design
For any security checks that are performed on the client side, ensure that these checks are duplicated on the server side, in order to avoid CWE-602. Attackers can bypass the client-side checks by modifying values after the checks have been performed, or by changing the client to remove the client-side checks…
Requirements · Language Selection
Use a language that does not allow this weakness to occur or provides constructs that make this weakness easier to avoid.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
XML Security (opens in a new tab)
Mass Assignment (opens in a new tab)
Injection Prevention (opens in a new tab)
SQL Injection Prevention (opens in a new tab)
Injection Prevention in Java (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V13.3.1 (opens in a new tab)
V5.1.4 (opens in a new tab)
V5.1.3 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
Overflow Buffers (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

discuss.elastic.co/t/packetbeat-8-19-10-9-1-10-9-2-4-security-update-esa-2026-02/384520 (opens in a new tab)

Community reviews

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 14 Jan 2026, 10:32 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-129

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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