KibanaApplication · Elastic
CVE-2017-8440
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 · uneditedStarting in version 5.3.0, Kibana had a cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in the Discover page 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 5.3.0 contains a cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in the Discover page where malicious input is not properly sanitized before rendering, allowing attackers to inject client-side scripts that execute in the context of other users' sessions.
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
= 5.3.0= 5.3.1= 5.3.2= 5.4.0CVSS 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 locationLocate the Kibana installation directory. Common paths include /opt/kibana, /usr/share/kibana, or C:\Program Files\kibana on Windows. Check for the presence of the kibana directory and its subdirectories.Affected if Kibana is not installed - the check does not apply.
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Determine installed Kibana versionOpen the kibana/package.json file in the Kibana installation directory and read the 'version' field. Alternatively, access the Kibana web UI, click the logo in the top-left, and select 'About' to view the version number.Affected if The version field shows 5.3.0, 5.3.1, 5.3.2, or 5.4.0 - the version is within the affected range.
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Verify if Discover page is accessibleLog into the Kibana web interface and navigate to the Discover page (click 'Discover' in the left sidebar). Confirm the page loads successfully and accepts user input through the search bar.Affected if The Discover page is accessible and functional - the vulnerable feature is enabled.
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Confirm no custom input sanitization existsInspect any custom Kibana plugins, scripts, or reverse proxy configurations that may add input validation to the Discover page. Check the kibana.yml configuration file for any security-related settings.Affected if No custom sanitization is in place and the version is affected - the environment is vulnerable.
A user is affected if their installed Kibana version is exactly 5.3.0, 5.3.1, 5.3.2, or 5.4.0 and the Discover page is accessible and functional.
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 5.3.1 or later which contains the security fix; alternatively, implement output encoding and input validation on the Discover page.
Fix this in Kibana
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,600.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2017-8440 — 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-2017-8440 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
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data