CVE-2023-31417
Elasticsearch Insertion of sensitive information in audit logs
Elasticsearch generally filters out sensitive information and credentials before logging to the audit log. It was found that this filtering was not applied when requests to Elasticsearch use certain deprecated URIs for APIs. The impact of this flaw is that sensitive information such as passwords and tokens might be printed in cleartext in Elasticsearch audit logs. Note that audit logging is disabled by default and needs to be explicitly enabled and even when audit logging is enabled, request bodies that could contain sensitive information are not printed to the audit log unless explicitly configured.
Attack profile
How easy it is to exploit
- Attack vector
- Local
- Complexity
- High
- Privileges needed
- High
- User interaction
- None
What an attacker can affect
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
Exploit likelihood
What each source reports
CVE List Score used
4.1
Elasticsearch Insertion of sensitive information in audit logs
Elasticsearch generally filters out sensitive information and credentials before logging to the audit log. It was found that this filtering was not applied when requests to Elasticsearch use certain deprecated URIs for APIs. The impact of this flaw is that sensitive information such as passwords and tokens might be printed in cleartext in Elasticsearch audit logs. Note that audit logging is disabled by default and needs to be explicitly enabled and even when audit logging is enabled, request bodies that could contain sensitive information are not printed to the audit log unless explicitly configured.
- Record
CVE-2023-31417- CVSS 3.1
- 4.1 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-532
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2023-2709
4.1
Elasticsearch generally filters out sensitive information and credentials before logging to the audit log. It was found that this filtering was not applied when requests to Elasticsearch use certain deprecated URIs for APIs. The impact of this flaw is that sensitive information such as passwords and tokens might be printed in cleartext in Elasticsearch audit logs. Note that audit logging is disabled by default and needs to be explicitly enabled and even when audit logging is enabled, request bodies that could contain sensitive information are not printed to the audit log unless explicitly configured.
- Record
EUVD-2023-2709- CVSS 3.1
- 4.1 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N - Updated
- 2026-11-03
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-99pc-69q9-jxf2
4.1
Elasticsearch allows insertion of sensitive information into log files when using deprecated URIs
Elasticsearch generally filters out sensitive information and credentials before logging to the audit log. It was found that this filtering was not applied when requests to Elasticsearch use certain deprecated URIs for APIs. The impact of this flaw is that sensitive information such as passwords and tokens might be printed in cleartext in Elasticsearch audit logs. Note that audit logging is disabled by default and needs to be explicitly enabled and even when audit logging is enabled, request bodies that could contain sensitive information are not printed to the audit log unless explicitly configured.
The _xpack/security APIs have been deprecated in Elasticsearch 7.x and were entirely removed in 8.0.0 and later. The only way for a client to use them in Elasticsearch 8.0.0 and later is to provide the Accept: application/json; compatible-with=7 header. Elasticsearch official clients do not use these deprecated APIs.
The list of affected, deprecated APIs, is the following:
POST /_xpack/security/user/{username}
PUT /_xpack/security/user/{username}
PUT /_xpack/security/user/{username}/_password
POST /_xpack/security/user/{username}/_password
PUT /_xpack/security/user/_password
POST /_xpack/security/user/_password
POST /_xpack/security/oauth2/token
DELETE /_xpack/security/oauth2/token
POST /_xpack/security/saml/authenticate
- Record
GHSA-99pc-69q9-jxf2- CVSS 3.1
- 4.1 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-532
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
NVD
4.1
Elasticsearch generally filters out sensitive information and credentials before logging to the audit log. It was found that this filtering was not applied when requests to Elasticsearch use certain deprecated URIs for APIs. The impact of this flaw is that sensitive information such as passwords and tokens might be printed in cleartext in Elasticsearch audit logs. Note that audit logging is disabled by default and needs to be explicitly enabled and even when audit logging is enabled, request bodies that could contain sensitive information are not printed to the audit log unless explicitly configured.
- Record
CVE-2023-31417- CVSS 3.1
- 4.1 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N - CVSS 3.1
- 4.4 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-532
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSV
4.1
Elasticsearch Insertion of sensitive information in audit logs
Elasticsearch generally filters out sensitive information and credentials before logging to the audit log. It was found that this filtering was not applied when requests to Elasticsearch use certain deprecated URIs for APIs. The impact of this flaw is that sensitive information such as passwords and tokens might be printed in cleartext in Elasticsearch audit logs. Note that audit logging is disabled by default and needs to be explicitly enabled and even when audit logging is enabled, request bodies that could contain sensitive information are not printed to the audit log unless explicitly configured.
- Record
CVE-2023-31417- CVSS 3.1
- 4.1 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-532
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVGHSA-99pc-69q9-jxf2
4.1
Elasticsearch allows insertion of sensitive information into log files when using deprecated URIs
Elasticsearch generally filters out sensitive information and credentials before logging to the audit log. It was found that this filtering was not applied when requests to Elasticsearch use certain deprecated URIs for APIs. The impact of this flaw is that sensitive information such as passwords and tokens might be printed in cleartext in Elasticsearch audit logs. Note that audit logging is disabled by default and needs to be explicitly enabled and even when audit logging is enabled, request bodies that could contain sensitive information are not printed to the audit log unless explicitly configured.
The _xpack/security APIs have been deprecated in Elasticsearch 7.x and were entirely removed in 8.0.0 and later. The only way for a client to use them in Elasticsearch 8.0.0 and later is to provide the Accept: application/json; compatible-with=7 header. Elasticsearch official clients do not use these deprecated APIs.
The list of affected, deprecated APIs, is the following:
POST /_xpack/security/user/{username}
PUT /_xpack/security/user/{username}
PUT /_xpack/security/user/{username}/_password
POST /_xpack/security/user/{username}/_password
PUT /_xpack/security/user/_password
POST /_xpack/security/user/_password
POST /_xpack/security/oauth2/token
DELETE /_xpack/security/oauth2/token
POST /_xpack/security/saml/authenticate
- Record
GHSA-99pc-69q9-jxf2- CVSS 3.1
- 4.1 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-532
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVUBUNTU-CVE-2023-31417
4.1
Elasticsearch generally filters out sensitive information and credentials before logging to the audit log. It was found that this filtering was not applied when requests to Elasticsearch use certain deprecated URIs for APIs. The impact of this flaw is that sensitive information such as passwords and tokens might be printed in cleartext in Elasticsearch audit logs. Note that audit logging is disabled by default and needs to be explicitly enabled and even when audit logging is enabled, request bodies that could contain sensitive information are not printed to the audit log unless explicitly configured.
- Record
UBUNTU-CVE-2023-31417- CVSS 3.1
- 4.1 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N - CVSS 3.1
- 4.4 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N - Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVBIT-elasticsearch-2023-31417 No score
Elasticsearch Insertion of sensitive information in audit logs
Elasticsearch generally filters out sensitive information and credentials before logging to the audit log. It was found that this filtering was not applied when requests to Elasticsearch use certain deprecated URIs for APIs. The impact of this flaw is that sensitive information such as passwords and tokens might be printed in cleartext in Elasticsearch audit logs. Note that audit logging is disabled by default and needs to be explicitly enabled and even when audit logging is enabled, request bodies that could contain sensitive information are not printed to the audit log unless explicitly configured.
- Record
BIT-elasticsearch-2023-31417- Updated
- 2026-11-02
Affected products
Affected packages
| Package | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|
org.elasticsearch:elasticsearchMaven |
7.0.0 up to 7.17.13 | 7.17.13 |
org.elasticsearch:elasticsearchMaven |
8.0.0 up to 8.9.2 | 8.9.2 |
elasticsearchBitnami |
7.0.0 up to 7.17.13, 8.0.0 up to 8.9.2 | 7.17.138.9.2 |
org.elasticsearch:elasticsearchMaven |
7.0.0 up to 7.17.13, plus listed versions 7.0.17.1.07.1.17.10.07.10.1 Show 45 moreShow less7.10.27.11.07.11.17.11.27.12.07.12.17.13.07.13.17.13.27.13.37.13.47.14.07.14.17.14.27.15.07.15.17.15.27.16.07.16.17.16.27.16.37.17.07.17.17.17.107.17.117.17.127.17.27.17.37.17.47.17.57.17.67.17.77.17.87.17.97.2.07.2.17.3.07.3.17.3.27.4.07.4.17.4.27.5.07.5.17.5.2 |
7.17.13 |
org.elasticsearch:elasticsearchMaven |
8.0.0 up to 8.9.2, plus listed versions 8.0.18.1.08.1.18.1.28.1.3 Show 26 moreShow less8.2.08.2.18.2.28.2.38.3.08.3.18.3.28.3.38.4.08.4.18.4.28.4.38.5.08.5.18.5.28.5.38.6.08.6.18.6.28.7.08.7.18.8.08.8.18.8.28.9.08.9.1 |
8.9.2 |
elasticsearchUbuntu:16.04:LTS |
All versions, plus listed versions 1.6.2+dfsg-11.7.3+dfsg-11.7.3+dfsg-21.7.3+dfsg-3 |
None known |
History
| Recorded | Changed | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| aliases, published | EUVD | |
| first indexed | CVE List, GitHub Advisories, NVD, OSV |
Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.
In short
CVE-2023-31417 is a medium vulnerability (CVSS 4.1) in Elastic Elasticsearch, published October 26, 2023. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 0.24%, the 15th percentile. Fixed in org.elasticsearch:elasticsearch 7.17.13.
References
discuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-8-9-2-and-7-17-13-security-update/342479
elastic.co/community/security
security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20231130-0006
nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-31417
github.com/advisories/GHSA-99pc-69q9-jxf2
github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2023/31xxx/CVE-2023-31417.json
ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-31417
cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-31417
Left out here: 11 versions. The JSON record has them.