Description

Incorrect Authorization (CWE-863) in Kibana can lead to denial of service via Exploiting Incorrectly Configured Access Control Security Levels (CAPEC-180).

Executive Summary

Technical Details

Mitigations

References

Additional Metadata

{
  "score": "4.3",
  "pubDate": "2026-09-03T19:17:29.587Z",
  "pubdate": "2026-09-03T19:17:29.587Z",
  "executiveSummary": "This vulnerability involves an Incorrect Authorization flaw (CWE-863) within Kibana, which facilitates a Denial of Service (DoS) condition by leveraging incorrectly configured access control security levels (CAPEC-180). The vulnerability arises when security-critical access control mechanisms fail to correctly validate user permissions against requested resources, allowing unauthorized or improperly authenticated actors to induce service disruption.\nThe risk implication is significant, as it permits attackers with lower-level access to potentially overwhelm system resources or trigger service failure by interacting with restricted endpoints. Exploitation relies on the systemic misconfiguration of access controls, enabling an attacker to bypass intended security boundaries. Successful exploitation results in the unavailability of Kibana services, directly impacting monitoring and observability capabilities. The vulnerability does not necessarily require administrative privileges, depending on the scope of the misconfigured access control levels, and is exploitable over the network.",
  "technicalDetails": "The root cause of the vulnerability lies in the improper enforcement of authorization checks within Kibana’s security abstraction layer. Specifically, the application fails to verify if a user possesses the requisite security clearance to interact with specific internal APIs or data streams. By exploiting CAPEC-180, an attacker can intentionally target these inadequately protected endpoints with high-intensity or malformed requests.\nThe attack flow commences with the actor identifying endpoints that possess permissive authorization logic. Even if the user is authenticated, the internal access control security level assigned to their session is not consistently enforced by the backend components. The attacker sends a sequence of crafted requests that, while technically authorized by the flawed access control check, trigger resource-intensive operations or unhandled exceptions within the Kibana service.\nUpon reaching the vulnerable component, the backend service fails to restrict the request volume or the scope of the data query, as it incorrectly assumes the requesting user has the appropriate authorization level. This results in excessive memory allocation or CPU cycles being consumed by the Kibana process, leading to resource exhaustion. The payload behavior involves recursive or complex query parameters that the service cannot handle when authorization constraints are bypassed.\nThe post-exploitation impact includes a complete or partial Denial of Service, causing the Kibana instance to stop responding to legitimate traffic. Because the issue is rooted in authorization logic, the system may log the requests as legitimate user activity, potentially obscuring the malicious origin of the disruption. Exposure is typically network-wide for any user with valid access to the Kibana interface, as the misconfiguration creates a blind spot where the authorization checks are effectively bypassed, allowing for the execution of administrative or heavy-duty operations by non-privileged accounts."
}