Cyber Resilience

CVE-2024-23444

Elasticsearch 7.0.0 – 7.17.23

Published
31 July 2024
Modified
04 April 2025
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 4.9
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
EPSS Score 0.0021 11th percentile
Risk Priority 42 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2024-23444 is a medium-severity Missing Encryption of Sensitive Data (CWE-311) vulnerability in Elastic Elasticsearch. Its CVSS base score is 4.9 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Network Sniffing (T1040); ranked at the 11th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SC-13 (Cryptographic Protection) and SC-28 (Protection of Information at Rest) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

A06:2025 Insecure Design

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

It was discovered by Elastic engineering that when elasticsearch-certutil CLI tool is used with the csr option in order to create a new Certificate Signing Requests, the associated private key that is generated is stored on disk unencrypted even if…

more

the --pass parameter is passed in the command invocation.

CWE(s)
CWE-311

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1040 Network Sniffing Credential Access
Adversaries may passively sniff network traffic to capture information about an environment, including authentication material passed over the network.
attack.mitre.org →
T1552.004 Private Keys Credential Access
Adversaries may search for private key certificate files on compromised systems for insecurely stored credentials.
attack.mitre.org →
T1557 Adversary-in-the-Middle Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to position themselves between two or more networked devices using an adversary-in-the-middle (AiTM) technique to support follow-on behaviors such as [Network Sniffing](https://attack.
attack.mitre.org →
T1557.001 Name Resolution Poisoning and SMB Relay Credential Access
By responding to LLMNR/NBT-NS/mDNS network traffic, adversaries may spoof an authoritative source for name resolution to force communication with an adversary controlled system.
attack.mitre.org →
T1557.002 ARP Cache Poisoning Credential Access
Adversaries may poison Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) caches to position themselves between the communication of two or more networked devices.
attack.mitre.org →
T1557.003 DHCP Spoofing Credential Access
Adversaries may redirect network traffic to adversary-owned systems by spoofing Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) traffic and acting as a malicious DHCP server on the victim network.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2025-37731Same product: Elastic Elasticsearch
CVE-2025-37727Same product: Elastic Elasticsearch
CVE-2023-49921Same product: Elastic Elasticsearch
CVE-2023-31417Same product: Elastic Elasticsearch
CVE-2024-23445Same product: Elastic Elasticsearch
CVE-2026-56148Same product: Elastic Elasticsearch
CVE-2024-23451Same product: Elastic Elasticsearch
CVE-2024-52981Same product: Elastic Elasticsearch
CVE-2024-52980Same product: Elastic Elasticsearch
CVE-2025-68390Same product: Elastic Elasticsearch

Affected Assets

elastic
elasticsearch
7.0.0 — 7.17.23 · 8.0.0 — 8.13.0

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

—

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 7 hardening rules · 7 OS baselines
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)

—

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

SC-13 Cryptographic Protection good match

SC-13 mandates use of specific cryptography, structurally preventing unencrypted sensitive data.

SC-28 Protection of Information at Rest good match

SC-28 requires cryptographic protection of information at rest, eliminating the storage half of the weakness.

SC-8 Transmission Confidentiality and Integrity good match

SC-8 requires protecting confidentiality of transmitted information, directly stopping missing encryption on the wire.

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.DS-01 mostly match
prevents

PR.DS-01 directly mandates encryption for data-at-rest and therefore prevents CWE-311 mostly for storage, yet the weakness also spans transmission and other contexts that this single at-rest control leaves unaddressed.

PR.DS-02 partial match
prevents

PR.DS-02 directly eliminates the transmission facet of CWE-311 via mandatory encryption but leaves the storage facet untouched, so each direction rates only partial.

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.

A.5.14 Information transfer partial match
prevents

Explicit rules requiring encryption for sensitive information in transit eliminate the weakness of sending data without cryptographic protection.

A.8.26 Application security requirements partial match
prevents

Explicitly calling for protection of data in transit and at rest, plus secure encryption of communications, drives the implementation of encryption that prevents clear-text exposure of sensitive information.

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-248525 All OL 8 local disk partitions must implement cryptographic mechanisms to prevent unauthorized disclosure or modification of all information that requires at-rest protection. prevents CWE-311
Oracle Linux 9 (1 rule)
  • V-271756 OL 9 local disk partitions must implement cryptographic mechanisms to prevent unauthorized disclosure or modification of all information that requires at rest protection. prevents CWE-311
RHEL 8 (1 rule)
  • V-230224 All RHEL 8 local disk partitions must implement cryptographic mechanisms to prevent unauthorized disclosure or modification of all information that requires at rest protection. prevents CWE-311
RHEL 9 (1 rule)
  • V-257879 RHEL 9 local disk partitions must implement cryptographic mechanisms to prevent unauthorized disclosure or modification of all information that requires at rest protection. prevents CWE-311
Windows Server 2016 (1 rule)
  • V-224843 Systems requiring data at rest protections must employ cryptographic mechanisms to prevent unauthorized disclosure and modification of the information at rest. prevents CWE-311
Windows Server 2019 (1 rule)
  • V-205727 Windows Server 2019 systems requiring data at rest protections must employ cryptographic mechanisms to prevent unauthorized disclosure and modification of the information at rest. prevents CWE-311

References