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CVE-2015-1427: The Groovy scripting engine in Elasticsearch before 1.3.8 and 1.4.x before 1.4.3 allows remote attackers to bypass the sandbox protection…

CriticalCVSS 9.8 · v3.1KEVWeaponized Fix available

Noroxi assessment

Priority: Now (action score 99/100)

  • CISA has confirmed exploitation in the wild (Mar 25, 2022). Remediation deadline for US federal agencies: Apr 15, 2022.
  • A ready-made attack module is public (Metasploit, Nuclei); exploiting it takes no special expertise.
  • Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 99.9% (FIRST EPSS); higher than 99.9% of all records.
  • Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it. No account or password is required. No user action is required. No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
  • According to CISA the attack is automatable: targets can be found by mass scanning.
  • Fixed version: org.elasticsearch:elasticsearch (Maven) 1.4.3, 1.3.8.

Patch today or shut off access. Upgrade to org.elasticsearch:elasticsearch (Maven) 1.4.3, 1.3.8 or later.

Generated automatically from the record's data: CVSS (NVD and CNA), CISA KEV and SSVC, FIRST EPSS, exploit sources, fixed versions. How we calculate it

Primary sources: NVD · CVE.org · CISA KEV · FIRST EPSS

The Groovy scripting engine in Elasticsearch before 1.3.8 and 1.4.x before 1.4.3 allows remote attackers to bypass the sandbox protection mechanism and execute arbitrary shell commands via a crafted script.

Published
Feb 17, 2015
Updated
Jun 16, 2026
EPSS
99.9% · 99th percentile
CWE
—

Report tools

JSON

Action score

99

Now

Patch today or shut off access.

CVSS
39 / 40 · 9.8 / 10
CISA KEV
30 / 30 · Listed
EPSS
30 / 30 · 99.9%

CISA SSVC decision

Exploitation
active
Automatable
yes
Technical impact
total

Vulnrichment: CISA's decision-tree inputs.

Actively exploited in the wild

CISA added this to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on Mar 25, 2022. That signals real attacks, not theory.

Remediation deadline for US federal agencies: Apr 15, 2022.

Get told when this record changes

  • In CISA KEV: exploitation in the wild confirmed
  • Weaponized exploit exists
  • A fix has been released

If any of these changes, we'll tell you in the daily email digest.

Follow CVE-2015-1427

When you'll hear from us

  • when it enters CISA KEV
  • when exploit code appears or is weaponized
  • when the record is updated (including a fixed version)
  • when EPSS rises 20 points in a week

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Noroxi analysis

What does it mean in your environment?

The assessment above is generated automatically from the record's data; it doesn't know your environment. Our team verifies on your systems whether this vulnerability is actually exploitable and which mitigation is enough.

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Affected systems

Is your version affected?

Pick the product and type the version you run. It's compared with this record's version ranges in your browser; the version isn't sent anywhere.

VendorProduct
elasticelasticsearch
redhatfuse

Affected versions

NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.

  • elastic elasticsearchbefore 1.3.8
  • elastic elasticsearch1.4.0 and later · before 1.4.3
  • redhat fuse1.0.0

Package-level exposure

OSV and GitHub Advisory data: ecosystem, package and range. SBOM matching uses this table.

EcosystemPackageAffected rangeFix
Mavenorg.elasticsearch:elasticsearchfrom 1.4.0 · before 1.4.31.4.3
Mavenorg.elasticsearch:elasticsearchbefore 1.3.81.3.8

Same product

elastic: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

  • CVE-2014-3120The default configuration in Elasticsearch before 1.2 enables dynamic scripting, which allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary MVEL…KEV
    89Now
  • CVE-2021-22145A memory disclosure vulnerability was identified in Elasticsearch 7.10.0 to 7.13.3 error reporting.
    49Plan
  • CVE-2023-31419Elasticsearch StackOverflow vulnerability
    48Plan

Published before and after this one in the same product

  • Later →CVE-2015-5377Mar 6, 2018 · Elasticsearch before 1.6.1 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via unspecified vectors involving the transport protocol.
    43Plan
  • Later →CVE-2018-3826Sep 19, 2018 · In Elasticsearch versions 6.0.0-beta1 to 6.2.4 a disclosure flaw was found in the _snapshot API.
    26Monitor
  • Later →CVE-2018-3831Sep 19, 2018 · Elasticsearch Alerting and Monitoring in versions before 6.4.1 or 5.6.12 have an information disclosure issue when secrets are configured…
    36Monitor

Remediation

Which version to upgrade to

Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.

Product / packageFixed versionSource
Maven:org.elasticsearch:elasticsearch1.3.8Package registry (OSV)
Maven:org.elasticsearch:elasticsearch1.4.3Package registry (OSV)

Exploit status

Weaponized

A ready exploit tool or active in-the-wild use is known for this vulnerability. This should be your top priority.

Evidence

  • Metasploit module ×1
  • Exploit-DB entry ×2
  • Nuclei detection template ×1
  • Proof-of-concept repository on GitHub ×6

Noroxi does not host or link to exploit code. Metasploit module names and Nuclei template ids are shown (names, not code); Exploit-DB entries and PoC repositories are given as counts only.

Public exploit evidence
SourceKindDate
Proof-of-concept repository on GitHub6 repositories2017-01-09 → 2026-10-08
Exploit-DB entryremote2015-03-16
Exploit-DB entryremote2015-03-11
Metasploit moduleexploit/multi/elasticsearch/search_groovy_scriptElasticSearch Search Groovy Sandbox Bypassexploit2015-02-11
Nuclei detection templateNuclei template CVE-2015-1427 —

Research context

For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.

Timeline

From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.

  1. Metasploit-6 d
  2. Published
  3. First PoC+22 d
  4. CISA KEV+2593 d
  5. TodayNov 15, 2026+4289 d

Bug bounty scope

The product’s vendor appears in a public program. Matched by name; verify the scope text in the program.

Not on record for this CVE: EPSS history · patch commit or PR link · researcher credit · variant or chain candidate.

Technical details

Attack conditions

  • Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it.
  • No account or password is required.
  • No user action is required.
  • No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.

If successful

Confidentiality
high · data can be read
Integrity
high · data or configuration can be modified
Availability
high · the service can be disrupted
Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality impact
High
Integrity impact
High
Availability impact
High

Weakness class (CWE)

—

CVSS vector

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

nvd-primary

Attack context

MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.

MITRE has no CAPEC/ATT&CK mapping for this CWE.

References

Show all references (6 more)

Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.

All records