KibanaApplication · Elastic
CVE-2018-3818
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 5.1.1 to 6.1.2 and 5.6.6 had a cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability via the colored fields formatter 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 versions 5.1.1 through 6.1.2 and 5.6.6 contained a cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in the colored fields formatter. Attackers could inject malicious scripts through this feature to steal session cookies, credentials, or perform actions on behalf of authenticated users.
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
>= 5.1.1, <= 6.1.2CVSS 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 the installed Kibana versionCheck the Kibana version by examining the package.json file in the Kibana installation directory, or run 'kibana --version' from the command line if accessible. You can also query the Kibana API endpoint: GET /api/statusAffected if The installed version is 5.1.1 through 6.1.2 inclusive, or specifically 5.6.6
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Confirm the colored fields formatter is in useExamine any saved searches, visualizations, or dashboards that use the colored fields formatter. This feature is typically found in the field formatter options for index patterns in Kibana Management. Check for any 'colored' formatter configuration in the index pattern settings.Affected if The colored fields formatter has been configured on any index pattern field, making the XSS payload injection point accessible
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Verify Kibana is exposed to untrusted inputReview whether users can create or modify index patterns and their field formatters. Check if the Kibana instance is accessible to users who are not fully trusted, or if untrusted data sources are being visualized.Affected if Untrusted users have access to Kibana or untrusted data is being indexed and visualized without sanitization
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Check for existing XSS indicatorsReview Kibana server logs and browser console logs for any suspicious script injection attempts. Look for patterns containing <script> tags, javascript:, or other XSS vectors in search queries or field values.Affected if There are logs showing attempted or successful script injection through the colored fields formatter
You are affected if your Kibana version falls within 5.1.1 to 6.1.2 (including 5.6.6) AND the colored fields formatter feature is accessible to users or being used with data from untrusted sources.
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 6.1.3 or later, or 5.6.7 or later. If immediate upgrading is not feasible, consider disabling the colored fields formatter or restricting user access to prevent exploitation.
Fix this in Kibana
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA3.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $4,416.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-3818 — 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-2018-3818 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