{"id":"CVE-2021-37937","aliases":["BIT-elasticsearch-2021-37937","EUVD-2021-24413","GHSA-4qh7-cr89-jx92","UBUNTU-CVE-2021-37937"],"status":"published","title":"Elasticsearch privilege escalation","description":"An issue was found with how API keys are created with the Fleet-Server service account. When an API key is created with a service account, it is possible that the API key could be created with higher privileges than intended. Using this vulnerability, a compromised Fleet-Server service account could escalate themselves to a super-user.","severity":{"version":"3.1","score":5.9,"vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N","level":"medium","assessor":"cna","from":"cve"},"epss":{"day":"2026-11-11","score":0.00714,"percentile":0.54129,"model":"v2026.06.15"},"facts":{"in_kev":false,"known_exploited":false,"public_exploit":false,"fix_available":true},"cwes":["CWE-269"],"published":"2023-11-22T01:45:21Z","modified":"2026-10-24T10:30:28Z","fixes":[{"ecosystem":"Bitnami","package":"elasticsearch","fixed_in":["7.14.1"],"sources":["osv"]}],"affected":[{"source":"osv","ecosystem":"Bitnami","package":"elasticsearch","ranges":[{"type":"SEMVER","events":[{"introduced":"7.13.0"},{"fixed":"7.14.1"}]}]},{"source":"osv","ecosystem":"Ubuntu:16.04:LTS","package":"elasticsearch","ranges":[{"type":"ECOSYSTEM","events":[{"introduced":"0"}]}],"versions":["1.6.2+dfsg-1","1.7.3+dfsg-1","1.7.3+dfsg-2","1.7.3+dfsg-3"]}],"products":[{"vendor":"elastic","product":"elasticsearch"}],"references":[{"url":"https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elastic-stack-7-14-1-security-update/283077","tags":["x_transferred","Vendor Advisory","advisory","report"]},{"url":"https://www.elastic.co/community/security","tags":["x_transferred","Vendor Advisory","advisory","report"]},{"url":"https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-37937","tags":["web"]},{"url":"https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-4qh7-cr89-jx92"},{"url":"https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2021-37937","tags":["report"]},{"url":"https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-37937","tags":["report"]}],"sources":{"cve":[{"id":"CVE-2021-37937","title":"Elasticsearch privilege escalation","description":"An issue was found with how API keys are created with the Fleet-Server service account. When an API key is created with a service account, it is possible that the API key could be created with higher privileges than intended. Using this vulnerability, a compromised Fleet-Server service account could escalate themselves to a super-user.","status":"published","published":"2023-11-22T01:45:21.008Z","modified":"2024-08-04T01:30:08.934Z","cvss":[{"version":"3.1","score":5.9,"vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N","level":"medium","assessor":"cna"}],"cwes":["CWE-269"],"updated_at":"2026-11-02T14:32:58.359368Z"}],"euvd":[{"id":"EUVD-2021-24413","description":"An issue was found with how API keys are created with the Fleet-Server service account. When an API key is created with a service account, it is possible that the API key could be created with higher privileges than intended. Using this vulnerability, a compromised Fleet-Server service account could escalate themselves to a super-user.","status":"published","published":"2023-11-22T01:45:21Z","modified":"2024-08-04T01:30:08Z","cvss":[{"version":"3.1","score":5.9,"vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N","level":"medium"}],"updated_at":"2026-11-03T03:24:26.118239Z"}],"ghsa":[{"id":"GHSA-4qh7-cr89-jx92","title":"An issue was found with how API keys are created with the Fleet-Server service account. When an...","description":"An issue was found with how API keys are created with the Fleet-Server service account. When an API key is created with a service account, it is possible that the API key could be created with higher privileges than intended. Using this vulnerability, a compromised Fleet-Server service account could escalate themselves to a super-user.","status":"published","published":"2023-11-22T03:30:19Z","modified":"2023-11-22T03:30:25Z","cvss":[{"version":"3.1","score":5.9,"vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N","level":"medium"}],"cwes":["CWE-269"],"updated_at":"2026-11-02T14:55:04.479575Z"}],"nvd":[{"id":"CVE-2021-37937","description":"An issue was found with how API keys are created with the Fleet-Server service account. When an API key is created with a service account, it is possible that the API key could be created with higher privileges than intended. Using this vulnerability, a compromised Fleet-Server service account could escalate themselves to a super-user.","status":"published","published":"2023-11-22T02:15:42.043Z","modified":"2026-06-17T04:01:17.17Z","cvss":[{"version":"3.1","score":5.9,"vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N","level":"medium","assessor":"secondary"},{"version":"3.1","score":8.8,"vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H","level":"high","assessor":"primary"}],"cwes":["CWE-269"],"updated_at":"2026-11-02T14:07:07.764332Z"}],"osv":[{"id":"CVE-2021-37937","description":"An issue was found with how API keys are created with the Fleet-Server service account. When an API key is created with a service account, it is possible that the API key could be created with higher privileges than intended. Using this vulnerability, a compromised Fleet-Server service account could escalate themselves to a super-user.","status":"published","published":"2023-11-22T02:15:42.043Z","modified":"2026-10-24T10:30:28.155384494Z","cvss":[{"version":"3.1","score":8.8,"vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H","level":"high"}],"updated_at":"2026-11-02T15:44:20.434873Z"},{"id":"UBUNTU-CVE-2021-37937","description":"An issue was found with how API keys are created with the Fleet-Server service account. When an API key is created with a service account, it is possible that the API key could be created with higher privileges than intended. Using this vulnerability, a compromised Fleet-Server service account could escalate themselves to a super-user.","status":"published","published":"2023-11-22T02:15:00Z","modified":"2025-10-24T04:50:27Z","cvss":[{"version":"3.1","score":5.9,"vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N","level":"medium"},{"version":"3.1","score":8.8,"vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H","level":"high"}],"updated_at":"2026-11-02T15:54:28.526929Z"},{"id":"BIT-elasticsearch-2021-37937","title":"Elasticsearch privilege escalation","description":"An issue was found with how API keys are created with the Fleet-Server service account. When an API key is created with a service account, it is possible that the API key could be created with higher privileges than intended. Using this vulnerability, a compromised Fleet-Server service account could escalate themselves to a super-user.","status":"published","published":"2024-03-06T10:52:41.376Z","modified":"2026-09-08T08:47:12.183961535Z","updated_at":"2026-11-02T15:28:29.563843Z"}]}}