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 me
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% · 100th percentile
- CWE
- —
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Report tools
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 government agencies: Apr 15, 2022.
Affected systems
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.
| Ecosystem | Package | Affected range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maven | org.elasticsearch:elasticsearch | from 1.4.0 · before 1.4.3 | 1.4.3 |
| Maven | org.elasticsearch:elasticsearch | before 1.3.8 | 1.3.8 |
Same product
elastic: all recordsOther 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 expKEV89Now
- CVE-2023-31419Elasticsearch StackOverflow vulnerability49Plan
- CVE-2021-22145A memory disclosure vulnerability was identified in Elasticsearch 7.10.0 to 7.13.3 error reporting.49Plan
- CVE-2015-5377Elasticsearch before 1.6.1 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via unspecified vectors involving the transport protocol.43Plan
- CVE-2021-22146All versions of Elastic Cloud Enterprise has the Elasticsearch “anonymous” user enabled by default in deployed clusters.41Plan
- CVE-2018-3831Elasticsearch Alerting and Monitoring in versions before 6.4.1 or 5.6.12 have an information disclosure issue when secrets are configured vi36Monitor
Remediation
Which version to upgrade to
Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.
| Product / package | Fixed version | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Maven:org.elasticsearch:elasticsearch | 1.3.8 | Package registry (OSV) |
| Maven:org.elasticsearch:elasticsearch | 1.4.3 | Package 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 ×5
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.
| Source | Kind | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Exploit-DB entry | remote | 2015-03-16 |
| Exploit-DB entry | remote | 2015-03-11 |
| Metasploit module | exploit/multi/elasticsearch/search_groovy_scriptElasticSearch Search Groovy Sandbox Bypassexploit | 2015-02-11 |
| Nuclei detection template | Nuclei template CVE-2015-1427 | — |
| Proof-of-concept repository on GitHub | stars:32 | 2017-01-09 |
| Proof-of-concept repository on GitHub | stars:0 | 2019-01-06 |
| Proof-of-concept repository on GitHub | stars:0 | 2020-06-22 |
| Proof-of-concept repository on GitHub | stars:0 | 2022-07-29 |
| Proof-of-concept repository on GitHub | stars:0 | 2024-11-10 |
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.
- Metasploit-6 d
- Published
- First PoC+22 d
- CISA KEV+2593 d
- TodaySep 30, 2026+4243 d
FIRST EPSS daily score; only changes of 0.01 or more are recorded (step chart).
Patch and commit links
Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.
No commit or PR link among the references.
Credits
All researchersFinders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.
No credits in the CNA record.
Variant candidates
Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.
No nightly-computed relations.
Chain candidates
An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.
—
Bug bounty scope
The product’s vendor appears in a public program. Matched by name; verify the scope text in the program.
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.
Noroxi analysis
No Noroxi analysis for this record yet
We don't hand-write analysis for all 385,000+ vulnerabilities; that wouldn't be honest. For notable, high-impact vulnerabilities our team writes the mechanism, detection and remediation steps.
We use this product, ask for helpChange log
- Fix✗ → ✓
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References
- packetstormsecurity.com/files/130368/Elasticsearch-1.3.7-1.4.2-Sandbox-Escape-Command-Execution.html
- www.elasticsearch.com/blog/elasticsearch-1-4-3-1-3-8-released/
- www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/534689/100/0/threaded
- www.securityfocus.com/bid/72585
- access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2017:0868
- exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/100850
- www.elastic.co/community/security/
- www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2015-1427
Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.