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Elastic BeatsApplication · Elastic

CVE-2023-49922

MEDIUM · 6.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-12-12
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 7.17.16 / 8.11.3 or later.
See remediation →
71/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable 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
An issue was discovered by Elastic whereby Beats and Elastic Agent would log a raw event in its own logs at the WARN or ERROR level if ingesting that event to Elasticsearch failed with any 4xx HTTP status code except 409 or 429. Depending on the nature of the event that Beats or Elastic Agent attempted to ingest, this could lead to the insertion of sensitive or private information in the Beats or Elastic Agent logs. Elastic has released 8.11.3 and 7.17.16 that prevents this issue by limiting these types of logs to DEBUG level logging, which is disabled by default.

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

When Beats or Elastic Agent attempted to ingest events to Elasticsearch and received a 4xx HTTP error (except 409 or 429), the raw event was logged at WARN or ERROR level. This could expose sensitive or private information in the Beats/Agent logs.

MitigationUpgrade to Elastic 8.11.3/7.17.16 or later, which changes these logs to DEBUG level (disabled by default). If upgrading is not possible, ensure DEBUG logging remains disabled to prevent exposure.

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
Elastic BeatsApplication
Affected:>= 7.0.0, < 7.17.16>= 8.0.0, < 8.11.3

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
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/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 checks

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

  1. Identify Beats or Elastic Agent installation and version
    Run 'filebeat version', 'metricbeat version', 'packetbeat version', 'heartbeat version', 'auditbeat version', or check the installed package (dpkg -l, rpm -qa, etc.) to find the version number
    Affected if Version is 7.0.0 through 7.17.15, or 8.0.0 through 8.11.2
  2. Confirm log level configuration
    Check the Beats configuration file (usually in /etc/beats/ or /etc/filebeat/) for 'log.level' setting, or inspect the running process environment. Default is 'info' which includes WARN and ERROR levels
    Affected if Log level is set to 'warn', 'error', or 'info' (any level that enables WARN and ERROR logging)
  3. Verify Elasticsearch output configuration
    Check the Beats configuration for 'output.elasticsearch' section and verify the hosts, authentication, and that it is the active output (not logstash)
    Affected if Beats is configured to send events directly to Elasticsearch output
  4. Review logs for 4xx error events with raw data
    Examine the Beats log files (typically in /var/log/beats/ or /var/log/filebeat/) for entries containing HTTP 4xx errors (excluding 409 and 429) that may contain raw event payloads in WARN or ERROR level messages
    Affected if Logs contain WARN or ERROR entries showing failed ingestion attempts with raw event data visible

You are affected if Beats or Elastic Agent version is 7.0.0-7.17.15 or 8.0.0-8.11.2, log.level includes WARN/ERROR (default), and events are being sent to Elasticsearch where 4xx errors could trigger logging of sensitive payloads.

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 7.17.16 / 8.11.3 or later
Fixed in 7.17.168.11.3
Interim mitigation

Upgrade to Elastic 8.11.3/7.17.16 or later, which changes these logs to DEBUG level (disabled by default). If upgrading is not possible, ensure DEBUG logging remains disabled to prevent exposure.

Recommended fix High confidence

7.17.16 for 7.x branches, or 8.11.3 for 8.x branches

  1. 1. Identify the current Elastic Beats or Elastic Agent version in use (e.g., using 'heartbeat version', 'metricbeat version', etc.)
  2. 2. If running version 7.0.0 or higher but below 7.17.16, plan upgrade to version 7.17.16
  3. 3. If running version 8.0.0 or higher but below 8.11.3, plan upgrade to version 8.11.3
  4. 4. Before upgrading, review the Elastic upgrade documentation for your specific Beats product to ensure compatibility
  5. 5. Perform the upgrade using your deployment method (e.g., package manager, Docker, binary download)
  6. 6. After upgrade, verify that WARN/ERROR level logs no longer contain raw event data from failed 4xx ingestion responses
Caveat Standard upgrade considerations apply - test in non-production environment first, review breaking changes in release notes for your specific Beats product

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

Fix this in Elastic Beats Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
7.0 hours of engineering $1,240
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,984.

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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-2023-49922 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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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