Enterprise SearchApplication · Elastic
CVE-2021-22149
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 · uneditedElastic Enterprise Search App Search versions before 7.14.0 are vulnerable to an issue where API keys were missing authorization via an alternate route. Using this vulnerability, an authenticated attacker could utilize API keys belonging to higher privileged 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 confidenceElastic Enterprise Search App Search versions before 7.14.0 contain an authorization bypass vulnerability where API keys are not properly validated when accessed through an alternate route. An authenticated attacker with a valid API key can leverage this flaw to utilize API keys belonging to higher-privileged users, gaining unauthorized access to their resources and data.
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
Enterprise SearchApplication
< 7.14.0CVSS 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
- 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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Identify if Elastic Enterprise Search is installedCheck for the enterprise-search service (systemctl status enterprise-search) or look for installation directories such as /usr/share/enterprise-search or /opt/enterprise-searchAffected if Enterprise Search is not found on the system, the vulnerability does not apply
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Determine the installed Enterprise Search versionRun the command 'enterprise-search --version' or check the version file in the installation directory (such as /usr/share/enterprise-search/lib/version.conf)Affected if Unable to determine the version, further manual investigation is required
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Verify the version is within the affected rangeCompare your installed version number against the affected range: any version before 7.14.0 (for example, 7.13.x, 7.12.x, 7.11.x, 7.10.x, 7.9.x, etc.)Affected if Installed version is 7.14.0 or later - the vulnerability is patched in this version
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Confirm App Search module is in useCheck if the App Search component is configured and running by inspecting the enterprise-search.yml configuration file (commonly at /etc/enterprise-search/enterprise-search.yml) for app_search settings or by querying the App Search API endpointAffected if App Search is not enabled or configured, the authorization bypass has no target
You are affected if Elastic Enterprise Search with App Search is installed and the version is below 7.14.0, allowing an authenticated attacker to escalate privileges through API key misuse.
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.
dbcve · scoped7.14.0
Upgrade Elastic Enterprise Search App Search to version 7.14.0 or later to obtain the patched version that properly enforces API key authorization controls.
7.14.0 or later
- Back up all Elastic Enterprise Search data and configuration before upgrading
- Plan your upgrade path according to Elastic's upgrade documentation
- Upgrade Elastic Enterprise Search to version 7.14.0 or later
- After upgrade, verify that API keys now properly enforce authorization controls
- Test that API keys can only access resources they're explicitly authorized for
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
Fix this in Enterprise Search
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 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 $3,408.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-22149 — 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-2021-22149 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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