KibanaApplication · Elastic
CVE-2021-22139
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 before 7.12.1 contain a denial of service vulnerability was found in the webhook actions due to a lack of timeout or a limit on the request size. An attacker with permissions to create webhook actions could drain the Kibana host connection pool, making Kibana unavailable for all other 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 before 7.12.1 have a denial of service vulnerability in the webhook actions feature. The lack of timeout enforcement or request size limits allows an authenticated attacker with webhook creation permissions to make excessive outbound requests, exhausting the host connection pool and rendering Kibana unresponsive for all 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
< 7.12.1CVSS 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
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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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Identify installed Kibana versionQuery the Kibana API endpoint /api/status or check the kibana/package.json file in the Kibana installation directory. The version is also displayed on the Kibana login page footer.Affected if The installed version is any version before 7.12.1 (e.g., 7.10.x, 7.11.x, 6.x series).
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Verify webhook actions feature availabilityCheck if the Kibana instance has alerting and actions (webhook) capabilities enabled. This can be verified by accessing the Stack Management > Actions and Connectors section in the Kibana UI, or by querying the /api/actions API endpoint if accessible.Affected if The webhook actions feature is present and accessible in the Kibana instance.
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Check for existing webhook action configurationsList all configured webhook actions by querying the /api/actions or reviewing the Kibana saved objects for action connectors. Look for webhook-type connectors.Affected if Any webhook actions are configured and active in the system.
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Review user permissions for webhook creationExamine Kibana roles and permissions assigned to users. Check which roles have the 'create' or 'write' privileges for actions/connectors. This is found in Management > Security > Roles.Affected if Non-administrator users have webhook creation permissions or the feature is accessible to users beyond trusted administrators.
A user is affected if their Kibana version is below 7.12.1 AND the webhook actions feature is accessible to users with creation permissions, allowing potential connection pool exhaustion.
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 data7.12.1
Upgrade Kibana to version 7.12.1 or later, which implements proper timeout and request size limits for webhook actions. Additionally, restrict webhook action creation permissions to only trusted administrators.
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-2021-22139 — 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-2021-22139 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
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