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KibanaApplication · Elastic

CVE-2025-68387

MEDIUM · 6.1 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-12-18
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 8.19.9 / 9.1.9 or later.
See remediation →
68/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable No privileges

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
Improper neutralization of input during web page generation ('Cross-site Scripting') (CWE-79) allows an unauthenticated user to embed a malicious script in content that will be served to web browsers causing cross-site scripting (XSS) (CAPEC-63) via a vulnerability a function handler in the Vega AST evaluator.

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 · moderate confidence

This is a reflected XSS vulnerability in the Vega AST evaluator's function handler. An unauthenticated attacker can inject malicious JavaScript code through unsanitized input that gets processed by the evaluator and served back to users' browsers, allowing session hijacking or credential theft.

MitigationImplement strict input validation and output encoding in the Vega AST evaluator function handler to ensure user-supplied content is safely neutralized before being rendered in web pages.

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
Affected:>= 7.0.0, <= 7.17.29>= 8.0.0, < 8.19.9>= 9.0.0, < 9.1.9>= 9.2.0, < 9.2.3

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
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/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 checks

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

  1. Verify Kibana version
    Check the installed Kibana version by examining the package.json file, running 'kibana --version' if accessible, or checking the version reported in the Kibana UI footer
    Affected if The installed version falls within 7.0.0-7.17.29, 8.0.0-8.19.8, 9.0.0-9.1.8, or 9.2.0-9.2.2
  2. Confirm Vega visualization feature is in use
    Identify whether any dashboards, visualizations, or saved objects leverage the Vega visualization language, as the vulnerability exists in the Vega AST evaluator function handler
    Affected if Vega-based visualizations are present and accessible to users
  3. Inspect HTTP access logs for suspicious Vega-related requests
    Review Kibana or proxy server access logs for Vega AST evaluator endpoints receiving unsanitized input, particularly query parameters containing JavaScript vectors like <script>, javascript:, or event handlers
    Affected if Log entries show Vega evaluator requests with XSS payloads in URL parameters
  4. Check for reflected content in Vega responses
    Analyze responses from Vega visualization endpoints to determine if user-supplied input from request parameters is being reflected back in the response without proper encoding
    Affected if User input from URL parameters appears unmodified in the HTML/JSON response body

A user is affected if running a Kibana version within the affected ranges AND the Vega visualization feature is enabled and accessible to users, allowing unauthenticated injection of malicious scripts through Vega AST evaluator endpoints.

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 8.19.9 / 9.1.9 / 9.2.3 or later
Fixed in 8.19.99.1.99.2.3
Interim mitigation

Implement strict input validation and output encoding in the Vega AST evaluator function handler to ensure user-supplied content is safely neutralized before being rendered in web pages.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Kibana 7.17.30+ / 8.19.9+ / 9.1.9+ / 9.2.3+ (select the appropriate version based on your current major version)

  1. 1. Back up your Kibana configuration and data directory before upgrading.
  2. 2. Download the appropriate fixed Kibana version for your major version line: For Kibana 7.x, upgrade to 7.17.30 or later; for Kibana 8.x, upgrade to 8.19.9 or later; for Kibana 9.0.x-9.1.x, upgrade to 9.1.9 or later; for Kibana 9.2.x, upgrade to 9.2.3 or later.
  3. 3. Stop the Kibana service.
  4. 4. Replace the existing Kibana installation with the new version, preserving your kibana.yml configuration file.
  5. 5. Start the Kibana service and verify it runs without errors.
  6. 6. Test that the Vega visualization functionality works correctly and that the XSS vulnerability is no longer present.
Caveat Review Elastic Stack compatibility matrix before upgrading; major version jumps may require Elasticsearch version compatibility checks and potential reindexing of data

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

Fix this in Kibana Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
11.0 hours of engineering $1,930
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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-2025-68387 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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