Threats / Elastic / CVE-2014-3120
CVE-2014-3120
· EUVD no mirror located
· GCVE no mirror located
Verified 2026-08-04
Elastic Elasticsearch vulnerability
Elasticsearch enabled dynamic scripting by default, allowing remote attackers to execute arbitrary MVEL expressions and Java code without authentication, leading to complete system compromise.
Verdict
Today item — known-exploited.
An unauthenticated remote attacker can execute arbitrary code on vulnerable Elasticsearch instances through dynamic script evaluation. This vulnerability has been actively exploited in the wild and requires immediate patching or configuration changes to disable dynamic scripting.
CISA KEV Yes · 2022-03-254EPSS 0.88559 (verify live)5Exploit Weaponized · public PoC6CVSS 8.1 (CISA)3CISA SSVC Exploitation: active · Automatable: no · Impact: partial3
01
Is it exploitable?
— the evidence, ranked above the scoreExploit available
Fully weaponized — public exploit code is cataloged for this vulnerability.We link the existence of the exploit; we do not host or redistribute payloads.
Reported exploitation
113 independent public reports of in-the-wild exploitation are cataloged.Distinct reporting sources (vendor, incident response, government); open them for the underlying claims.
Exploited in the wild
Listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2022-03-25).
Probability (EPSS)
EPSS 0.88559 — modeled likelihood of exploitation activity.EPSS is a daily-changing model output — open the source for today's value.
Severity / affected
CVSS 8.1 (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N) · Affected: Elastic, Elasticsearch. Confirm exact fixed builds in the vendor advisory.CVSS — CISA-assigned via the ADP container (CVE.org), version 3.1; the CNA left no metrics, so CISA's own score is used ahead of NVD.
Weakness (CWE)
Mapped to CWE-284 Improper Access Control — weakness family: Authorization / access control.CWE assignment from the public NVD record (may be stale); the weakness class drives how the flaw is exploited.
CISA SSVC (triage disposition)
Exploitation: active · Automatable: no · Technical Impact: partialCISA's own stakeholder-specific triage inputs, published in the CVE record (CISA Coordinator role). NOTE: this is CISA's three decision points; the final Act/Attend/Track decision also requires a Mission & Well-being input not published here, so no overall decision is asserted.
Currency of the record
CISA added this to its KEV catalog 2797 days after the CVE record was published.KEV lag = CISA-KEV dateAdded − CVE.org datePublished; a floor on how long the known-exploited flaw sat in the public record before the federal catalog listed it. Severity/weakness here is CNA- or CISA-assigned (current at disclosure), independent of NVD's analysis backlog.
Public exploit available
Public exploit tooling is catalogued for this CVE (a functional/weaponized public exploit). Catalog entries: Metasploit module, nuclei template. We link the catalog page(s) only — no payload or code is hosted or restated here.Link, never host — the catalog page is the source; basicsecurity.net does not redistribute payloads.
02
Who’s exploiting it?
— attribution turns risk into urgencyAttribution not established
No confirmed (advisory-backed) threat-actor attribution is established for this record. Absence of a named actor is not absence of compromise — see Coverage & confidence.
03
Why it matters
— the attack path, told twice: adversary, then board1
Front door — unauthenticated access narrative 1
Attacker
I craft a malicious script payload in MVEL or Java and send it to the Elasticsearch API endpoint.
Business
The organization's Elasticsearch cluster becomes a pivot point for attackers to access sensitive indexed data and internal systems.
2
Keys to the kingdom — privilege/identity takeover narrative 2
Attacker
I execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the Elasticsearch process to establish persistence and lateral movement.
Business
Attackers gain sustained access to infrastructure, enabling data exfiltration, encryption for ransom, or deployment of additional malware.
3
Lateral reach — past segmentation narrative 3
Attacker
I enumerate and extract all indexed data, including credentials, personal information, and business intelligence stored in the cluster.
Business
Confidential data breaches result in regulatory fines, reputational damage, and loss of customer trust.
04
What to do
— defensible action- Remediate per the vendor advisory — confirm the fixed build for your version and verify exposure.1
Say it to the boardA vulnerability with this evidence profile is a defensible budget line, not a backlog ticket — fund the change against the proof above.
05