KibanaApplication · Elastic
CVE-2017-11481
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedKibana versions prior to 6.0.1 and 5.6.5 had a cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability via URL fields that could allow an attacker to obtain sensitive information from or perform destructive actions on behalf of other Kibana users.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidenceKibana had a cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in URL field handling that allowed attackers to inject malicious scripts into URL fields. When other Kibana users viewed these crafted URLs, the malicious code would execute in their browser session, potentially exposing sensitive information or enabling destructive actions.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data
KibanaApplication
= 5.6.0= 5.6.1= 5.6.2= 5.6.3= 5.6.4= 6.0.0CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- Required
- Scope
- Changed
- Confidentiality
- Low
- Integrity
- Low
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify Kibana installation directoryLocate the Kibana installation on the host system. Common paths include /opt/kibana, /usr/share/kibana, or C:\Program Files\Kibana on Windows.Affected if Kibana is installed but the directory cannot be located for version verification.
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Determine installed Kibana versionCheck the package.json file in the Kibana installation directory for the version field, or query the Kibana API at GET /api/status to retrieve the version number from the response.Affected if The installed version matches 5.6.0, 5.6.1, 5.6.2, 5.6.3, 5.6.4, or 6.0.0.
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Verify URL field handling is in useDetermine if Kibana is being used to visualize or display data containing URL fields through discover, visualizations, or dashboards. Check if any index patterns contain fields mapped as URL type.Affected if Users can view or interact with URL-type fields in the Kibana interface.
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Confirm user access to crafted URLsReview whether untrusted users have the ability to create or modify documents that contain URL fields, or whether Kibana is accessible to users who could inject malicious scripts through URL field values.Affected if Untrusted users can inject content into URL fields that other Kibana users will view.
A user is affected if their Kibana version is exactly 5.6.0 through 5.6.4 or 6.0.0, and users can view URL fields containing potentially malicious content.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor dataUpgrade Kibana to version 6.0.1 or later (for 6.x) or 5.6.5 or later (for 5.x) to patch the vulnerability.
Fix this in Kibana
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,560.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2017-11481 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2017-11481 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.
- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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