KibanaApplication · Elastic
CVE-2020-7012
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 6.7.0 to 6.8.8 and 7.0.0 to 7.6.2 contain a prototype pollution flaw in the Upgrade Assistant. An authenticated attacker with privileges to write to the Kibana index could insert data that would cause Kibana to execute arbitrary code. This could possibly lead to an attacker executing code with the permissions of the Kibana process on the host system.
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 6.7.0 through 6.8.8 and 7.0.0 through 7.6.2 contain a prototype pollution vulnerability in the Upgrade Assistant. An authenticated attacker with privileges to write to the Kibana index can inject malicious JavaScript objects that corrupt the prototype chain, causing Kibana to execute arbitrary code with the permissions of the Kibana process.
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
>= 6.7.0, <= 6.8.8>= 7.0.0, <= 7.6.2CVSS 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
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check installed Kibana versionQuery the Kibana status API: GET /api/status, or check the installed package via the package manager (dpkg/rpm) or the kibana package.json file in the installation directory. Compare the version to the affected ranges: 6.7.0-6.8.8 or 7.0.0-7.6.2.Affected if The installed version falls within 6.7.0 through 6.8.8, or 7.0.0 through 7.6.2.
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Verify Upgrade Assistant is accessibleAttempt to access the Upgrade Assistant API endpoint (for example, GET /api/upgrade_assistant/status) or navigate to the Upgrade Assistant UI in Kibana. Check if the endpoint returns a valid response indicating the feature is available.Affected if The Upgrade Assistant API responds successfully, indicating the feature is enabled and accessible.
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Confirm write access to the Kibana index existsReview Kibana role definitions and user permissions. Identify if any users or roles have write or admin privileges on the .kibana index (the default Kibana system index). Use Kibana's role management UI or the Elasticsearch Security API (GET /_security/role) to enumerate permissions.Affected if Any authenticated user or role possesses write or create privileges on the .kibana index, allowing them to inject documents.
The environment is affected if Kibana version is between 6.7.0-6.8.8 or 7.0.0-7.6.2, the Upgrade Assistant is accessible, and users with write access to the .kibana index exist.
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 6.8.9 or 7.6.3 or later. If immediate patching is not feasible, enforce strict access controls on the Kibana index to prevent untrusted users from writing data.
Fix this in Kibana
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing4.0 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 $5,120.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-7012 — 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-2020-7012 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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- 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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