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Vulnerability record · CVE-2015-4165 · published 9 August 2017

CVE-2015-4165: Elasticsearch permissions and access controls vulnerability

Elasticsearch · Elasticsearch

The snapshot API in Elasticsearch before 1.6.0 when another application exists on the system that can read Lucene files and execute code from them, is accessible by the attacker, and the Java VM on which Elasticsearch is running can write to a location that the other application can read and execute from, allows remote authenticated users to write to and create arbitrary snapshot metadata files, and potentially execute arbitrary code.

7.5 CVSS 3.0 High EPSS 4.5% · top 8.9% CWE-264 · Permissions and access controls
7.5CVSS 3.0 base score, v2 6.0
4.5%EPSS exploitation probability, 30 days
NoNot in CISA KEV
1Affected product versions listed by NVD
12References
17 Jun 2026Last modified by NVD

Description

The snapshot API in Elasticsearch before 1.6.0 when another application exists on the system that can read Lucene files and execute code from them, is accessible by the attacker, and the Java VM on which Elasticsearch is running can write to a location that the other application can read and execute from, allows remote authenticated users to write to and create arbitrary snapshot metadata files, and potentially execute arbitrary code.

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Affected products

1 vulnerable configurations from NVD's CPE data, grouped by vendor and product.

References

LinkTags
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/132234/Elasticsearch-1.5.2-File-Creation.html Third Party AdvisoryVDB Entry
http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/535727/100/0/threaded
http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/536855/100/0/threaded
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/75113 MitigationThird Party AdvisoryVDB Entry
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1230761 Issue TrackingThird Party Advisory
https://www.elastic.co/community/security/ Vendor Advisory
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/132234/Elasticsearch-1.5.2-File-Creation.html Third Party AdvisoryVDB Entry
http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/535727/100/0/threaded
http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/536855/100/0/threaded
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/75113 MitigationThird Party AdvisoryVDB Entry
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1230761 Issue TrackingThird Party Advisory
https://www.elastic.co/community/security/ Vendor Advisory

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Related vulnerabilities

Same products first, then exploited flaws of the same weakness class.

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Source: NIST National Vulnerability Database (record CVE-2015-4165), CISA KEV, FIRST EPSS (scores of 2026-09-26). This page is refreshed as NVD updates the record.