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PacketbeatApplication · Elasticsearch

CVE-2025-68388

MEDIUM · 5.3 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 →
62/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable No privileges 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
Allocation of resources without limits or throttling (CWE-770) allows an unauthenticated remote attacker to cause excessive allocation (CAPEC-130) of memory and CPU via the integration of malicious IPv4 fragments, leading to a degradation in Packetbeat.

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

Packetbeat fails to impose resource limits on IPv4 fragment processing, allowing an unauthenticated remote attacker to send malicious IPv4 fragments that trigger excessive memory and CPU allocation, causing denial of service through system degradation.

MitigationApply the vendor patch for CVE-2025-68388 when available. In the interim, implement network-level filtering to block or rate-limit suspicious IPv4 fragment traffic destined for systems running Packetbeat.

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
PacketbeatApplication
Affected:>= 8.6.0, < 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
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
Low

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

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 installed Packetbeat version
    Run 'packetbeat version' or check the installed package (dpkg -l packetbeat / rpm -qi packetbeat)
    Affected if The version falls within >= 8.6.0 and < 8.19.9, OR >= 9.0.0 and < 9.1.9, OR >= 9.2.0 and < 9.2.3
  2. Verify Packetbeat is running as a service
    Check process status: 'systemctl status packetbeat' or 'ps aux | grep packetbeat'
    Affected if Packetbeat process is active and ingesting network traffic
  3. Confirm Packetbeat is capturing IPv4 traffic
    Review Packetbeat configuration file (usually at /etc/packetbeat/packetbeat.yml) for 'protocols' or 'interfaces' settings that enable IPv4 packet capture
    Affected if IPv4 packet capture is enabled in the configuration (this is the default behavior)
  4. Assess network exposure of Packetbeat
    Check which network interfaces Packetbeat binds to (netstat -tlnp | grep packetbeat or ss -tlnp | grep packetbeat) and whether the system is directly internet-accessible
    Affected if Packetbeat is processing traffic on interfaces reachable by untrusted remote attackers

You are affected if Packetbeat is running with an affected version number and processing IPv4 traffic accessible to unauthenticated remote attackers on the network.

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

Apply the vendor patch for CVE-2025-68388 when available. In the interim, implement network-level filtering to block or rate-limit suspicious IPv4 fragment traffic destined for systems running Packetbeat.

Recommended fix High confidence

Upgrade to Packetbeat 8.19.9, 9.1.9, or 9.2.3 (or later stable releases in each respective branch)

  1. 1. Back up current Packetbeat configuration files (/etc/packetbeat/ or equivalent)
  2. 2. Stop the Packetbeat service (systemctl stop packetbeat or equivalent)
  3. 3. Upgrade Packetbeat to version 8.19.9 (for 8.x line) or 9.1.9 (for 9.0.x-9.1.x line) or 9.2.3 (for 9.2.x line)
  4. 4. Verify the upgrade: run packetbeat version to confirm new version is installed
  5. 5. Start the Packetbeat service (systemctl start packetbeat)
  6. 6. Verify Packetbeat is processing packets normally and monitoring is healthy
  7. 7. Review Packetbeat logs for any errors (journalctl -u packetbeat -f or /var/log/packetbeat/)
Caveat Review Elastic Stack upgrading notes for potential breaking changes between minor versions; test configuration compatibility in staging before production deployment

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

Fix this in Packetbeat Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
22.0 hours of engineering $3,860
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $6,176.

Scan for this in your stack

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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-2025-68388 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