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Fencer Intel
high 8.1

CVE-2014-3120 kev in the critical feed json

Elasticsearch Improper Access Control vulnerability

published 12y ago modified 4mo ago also GHSA-mrfm-jxgf-2h6v , EUVD-2022-5879

cvss
8.1
version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev
Exploited
added 2022-03-25
epss
88.6%
EPSS 88.6% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 99.7%
public exploits
3
Metasploit and Exploit-DB, plus a Nuclei check

Summary

The default configuration in Elasticsearch before 1.2 enables dynamic scripting, which allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary MVEL expressions and Java code via the source parameter to _search. NOTE: this only violates the vendor's intended security policy if the user does not run Elasticsearch in its own independent virtual machine.

Patch / fix

cisa required action Apply updates per vendor instructions.

  • maven org.elasticsearch:elasticsearch 1.4.0.Beta1
  • elastic elasticsearch 1.2.0

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Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2014-3120 updated cvss 6.8

elasticsearch: remote code execution flaw via dynamic scripting

  • Red Hat Fuse ESB Enterprise 7.1.0 Red Hat Fuse Management Console 7.1.0 Red Hat Fuse MQ Enterprise 7.1.0
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2014:1171
  • Red Hat JBoss A-MQ 6.1 Red Hat JBoss Fuse 6.1
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2014:1170
  • Red Hat Subscription Asset Manager for RHEL 6 Server katello-configure 1.4.5.1-3.el6sam
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2014:1186
  • Red Hat Satellite 6 elasticsearch
    not affected: vulnerable code not present

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

Timeline

  1. First public exploit (Metasploit exploit/multi/elasticsearch/script_mvel_rce)
  2. Published
  3. Added to CISA KEV
  4. CISA patch deadline
  5. CISA SSVC: exploitation active

Known exploited

Added
4y ago
Patch by
2022-04-15 (4y ago)
Ransomware
Not known
Required action
Apply updates per vendor instructions.
Vendor, product
Elastic, Elasticsearch
CISA name
Elasticsearch Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

CISA SSVC

Exploitation
Active, exploited in the wild
Automatable
no
Technical impact
partial
Assessed
last yr.

Exploit prediction

88.56% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 99.7% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-09).

Exploits and checks

  • Metasploit exploit/multi/elasticsearch/script_mvel_rce ElasticSearch Dynamic Script Arbitrary Java Execution metasploit exploit, excellent rank, 2013-12-09
  • EDB-33588 ElasticSearch Dynamic Script - Arbitrary Java Execution (Metasploit) remote, 2014-05-30
  • EDB-33370 ElasticSearch - Remote Code Execution webapps, 2014-05-15
  • Nuclei template ElasticSearch v1.1.1/1.2 RCE nuclei detection template
  • securityfocus.com http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/67731 referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified
  • bouk.co http://bouk.co/blog/elasticsearch-rce/ referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified
  • rapid7.com http://www.rapid7.com/db/modules/exploit/multi/elasticsearch/script_mvel_rce referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified
  • found.no https://www.found.no/foundation/elasticsearch-security/#staying-safe-while-developing-with-elasticsearch referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
CISA ADP 3.1 8.1 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N
NVD 3.1 8.1 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N
CNA 3.1 8.1 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N
NVD 2.0 6.8 AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P
GitHub 3.1 8.1 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N/E:H

Affected packages

ecosystem package affected fixed in
maven org.elasticsearch:elasticsearch
<1.4.0.Beta1
1.4.0.Beta1

Classification

Weakness

References

Sources

Fencer Intel keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.