dbcve.org
KibanaApplication · Elastic

CVE-2018-17245

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2018-12-20
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 6.4.2 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

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 · unedited
Kibana versions 4.0 to 4.6, 5.0 to 5.6.12, and 6.0 to 6.4.2 contain an error in the way authorization credentials are used when generating PDF reports. If a report requests external resources plaintext credentials are included in the HTTP request that could be recovered by an external resource provider.

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 confidence

Kibana versions 4.0-4.6, 5.0-5.6.12, and 6.0-6.4.2 contain a flaw where plaintext HTTP authorization credentials are included in requests to external resources when generating PDF reports. An external resource provider receiving these requests can capture and recover the credentials.

MitigationUpgrade to Kibana 5.6.13, 6.4.3, or later versions. Until patched, avoid generating PDF reports that request external resources or ensure external resources do not receive authentication credentials.

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
Affected:>= 4.0.0, <= 4.6.0>= 5.0.0, <= 5.6.12>= 6.0.0, <= 6.4.2

CVSS 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
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify installed Kibana version
    Run 'kibana --version' or check the Kibana about page in the UI, or inspect the installed package.json
    Affected if Version is 4.0.0-4.6.0, 5.0.0-5.6.12, or 6.0.0-6.4.2
  2. Determine if PDF reporting is enabled
    Check the kibana.yml config file for 'pdf' or 'reporting' settings, or verify the reporting plugin is loaded in the Kibana UI
    Affected if PDF reporting plugin is installed and active
  3. Verify if reports access external HTTP resources
    Review Kibana visualizations and dashboards used for PDF generation; check if they contain links, data sources, or embedded content from external URLs outside the Kibana/Elasticsearch environment
    Affected if PDF reports include visualizations that fetch data from external HTTP URLs that could receive the authorization credentials
  4. Check for HTTP authorization in external requests
    Capture network traffic or review server logs when generating a PDF report that includes external resources; look for the 'Authorization' header in requests sent to external domains
    Affected if Authorization headers are transmitted in plain text to external resource providers

You are affected if your Kibana version falls within 4.0-4.6, 5.0-5.6.12, or 6.0-6.4.2 AND you generate PDF reports that request external resources, allowing external servers to capture plaintext HTTP authorization credentials.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 6.4.2
Interim mitigation

Upgrade to Kibana 5.6.13, 6.4.3, or later versions. Until patched, avoid generating PDF reports that request external resources or ensure external resources do not receive authentication credentials.

Recommended fix High confidence

Kibana 4.6.1+ (5.6.13+ for 5.x branch, 6.4.3+ for 6.x branch), or migrate to Kibana 7.x

  1. 1. Identify the current Kibana version in use by checking the Kibana server logs or configuration
  2. 2. Determine which version branch your current installation belongs to (4.x, 5.x, or 6.x)
  3. 3. For Kibana 4.x users: Plan upgrade path to 4.6.1 or later (note: Kibana 4.x is end-of-life, consider migrating to a newer major version)
  4. 4. For Kibana 5.x users: Upgrade to version 5.6.13 or later
  5. 5. For Kibana 6.x users: Upgrade to version 6.4.3 or later
  6. 6. Before upgrading in production, test the upgrade in a staging environment to verify compatibility with your Elasticsearch cluster
  7. 7. After upgrading, verify that PDF report generation works correctly and that credentials are no longer exposed in plaintext
  8. 8. If unable to upgrade immediately, avoid generating PDF reports that pull external resources until the patch can be applied
Caveat Kibana 4.x is end-of-life; major version upgrades (e.g., 5.x to 6.x, 6.x to 7.x) may introduce breaking changes in visualizations, dashboards, and plugins - review Elastic documentation for migration guidance

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Kibana Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,750
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2018-17245 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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.

What belongs here
  • 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