Cyber Resilience

CVE-2023-31419

Memory Safety in Elasticsearch 7.0.0 – 7.17.12

High EPSSMemory Safety
Published
26 October 2023
Modified
13 February 2025
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 6.5
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
EPSS Score 0.61 99.1th percentile
Risk Priority 73 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2023-31419 is a medium-severity Stack-based Buffer Overflow (CWE-121) vulnerability in Elastic Elasticsearch. Its CVSS base score is 6.5 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked in the top 0.9% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary

Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.

A flaw was discovered in Elasticsearch affecting the _search API that allowed a specially crafted query string to cause a Stack Overflow and ultimately a Denial of Service. The issue is tracked under CVE-2023-31419 with a CVSS 3.1 score of 6.5 and is associated with CWE-121 and CWE-787.

An attacker with low privileges can send a malicious query over the network to trigger the stack overflow condition, resulting in a denial of service that affects availability while leaving confidentiality and integrity intact.

Elastic has released security updates in Elasticsearch versions 8.9.1 and 7.17.13 to address the vulnerability, as noted in their community security advisory and related NetApp notices recommending customers apply the patches.

The associated EPSS score reached a peak of 0.3921 with a current value of 0.3513.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

A flaw was discovered in Elasticsearch, affecting the _search API that allowed a specially crafted query string to cause a Stack Overflow and ultimately a Denial of Service.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to elevate privileges.
T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution Execution
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in client applications to execute code.
T1210 Exploitation of Remote Services Lateral Movement
Adversaries may exploit remote services to gain unauthorized access to internal systems once inside of a network.
T1211 Exploitation for Stealth Stealth
Adversaries may exploit vulnerabilities to evade detection by hiding activity, suppressing logging, or operating within trusted or unmonitored components.
T1212 Exploitation for Credential Access Credential Access
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to collect credentials.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-4756Shared CWE-121, CWE-787
CVE-2023-45225Shared CWE-121, CWE-787
CVE-2024-4494Shared CWE-121, CWE-787
CVE-2024-4236Shared CWE-121, CWE-787
CVE-2024-4118Shared CWE-121, CWE-787
CVE-2025-29840Shared CWE-121, CWE-787
CVE-2023-25085Shared CWE-121, CWE-787
CVE-2023-37316Shared CWE-121, CWE-787
CVE-2023-46223Shared CWE-121, CWE-787
CVE-2025-30472Shared CWE-121, CWE-787

Affected Assets

elastic
elasticsearch
7.0.0 — 7.17.12 · 8.0.0 — 8.9.0

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 2 hardening rules · 2 OS baselines
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)

Likely Mitigating Controls AI

Per-CVE control mapping for this CVE has not run yet; the list below is derived from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry.

addresses: CWE-787

Out-of-bounds writes that corrupt control flow or inject shellcode are rendered non-executable by the same memory protections.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure-development practices directly prevent introduction of stack buffer overflows.

ID.RA-01 partial match
prevents

Vulnerability scanning can discover stack buffer overflows but does not prevent their introduction.

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Patching eliminates known instances of the weakness after discovery.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

finds

Security testing (fuzzing, static analysis) detects stack overflows before release.

prevents

Secure SDLC mandates buffer-safety practices that directly prevent stack overflows.

prevents

Application security requirements can specify buffer-size and input-validation rules.

prevents

Secure architecture principles include memory-safety and least-privilege stack usage.

prevents

Secure coding standards explicitly forbid unsafe buffer handling that causes CWE-121.

prevents

Change management can enforce review gates that catch unsafe memory operations before deployment.

Hardening callouts derived

Configuration rules from DISA STIG baselines that bear on weaknesses of the type cited by this CVE. Each rule is shown with the relationship its mapping actually records, against the CWE it was authored against. Derived via CVE→CWE over `controls_xwalks` (authoritative rows only; rows rated `none` are excluded).

Oracle Linux 8 (1 rule)
  • V-248594 OL 8 must implement address space layout randomization (ASLR) to protect its memory from unauthorized code execution. prevents CWE-121
Oracle Linux 9 (1 rule)
  • V-271452 OL 9 must use a Linux Security Module configured to enforce limits on system services. prevents CWE-121

References