CVE-2025-25014
📋 TL;DR
A prototype pollution vulnerability in Kibana allows attackers to execute arbitrary code by sending specially crafted HTTP requests to machine learning and reporting endpoints. This affects all Kibana instances with these endpoints enabled, potentially giving attackers full control over the Kibana server.
💻 Affected Systems
- Kibana
📦 What is this software?
Kibana by Elastic
Kibana by Elastic
Kibana by Elastic
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Complete compromise of the Kibana server leading to data exfiltration, lateral movement to connected Elasticsearch clusters, and persistent backdoor installation.
Likely Case
Remote code execution on Kibana servers allowing attackers to access sensitive data, modify dashboards, and potentially pivot to Elasticsearch infrastructure.
If Mitigated
Limited impact if network segmentation prevents external access and proper authentication/authorization is enforced, though internal threats remain.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires crafting specific HTTP requests but does not require authentication to vulnerable endpoints. The vulnerability is in prototype handling of request parameters.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 8.17.6, 8.18.1, or 9.0.1
Vendor Advisory: https://discuss.elastic.co/t/kibana-8-17-6-8-18-1-or-9-0-1-security-update-esa-2025-07/377868
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Download Kibana 8.17.6, 8.18.1, or 9.0.1 from Elastic website. 2. Stop Kibana service. 3. Backup configuration and data. 4. Install updated version. 5. Restart Kibana service. 6. Verify functionality.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Disable vulnerable endpoints
allTemporarily disable machine learning and reporting endpoints if not required
Modify kibana.yml: xpack.ml.enabled: false
Modify kibana.yml: xpack.reporting.enabled: false
Network access controls
allRestrict network access to Kibana machine learning and reporting endpoints
firewall rules to block external access to /api/ml/* and /api/reporting/* endpoints
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement strict network segmentation to isolate Kibana from untrusted networks
- Enable authentication and authorization for all Kibana endpoints, implement IP whitelisting
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check Kibana version via API: curl -X GET 'http://kibana-host:5601/api/status' | grep numberCheck Version:
curl -X GET 'http://kibana-host:5601/api/status' | grep -o '"number":"[^"]*"'Verify Fix Applied:
Confirm version is 8.17.6, 8.18.1, or 9.0.1 via same API endpoint📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unusual HTTP requests to /api/ml/* or /api/reporting/* endpoints
- Multiple failed prototype validation attempts
- Unexpected process execution from Kibana
Network Indicators:
- HTTP POST/PUT requests with malformed JSON objects to machine learning endpoints
- Unusual outbound connections from Kibana server
SIEM Query:
source="kibana.log" AND (uri_path="/api/ml/*" OR uri_path="/api/reporting/*") AND (http_method="POST" OR http_method="PUT") AND status=200 AND size_bytes>10000