CVE-2018-3818 in Kibana
Summary
by MITRE
Kibana versions 5.1.1 to 6.1.2 and 5.6.6 had a cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability via the colored fields formatter that could allow an attacker to obtain sensitive information from or perform destructive actions on behalf of other Kibana users.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/06/2021
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2018-3818 represents a critical cross-site scripting flaw within the Kibana data visualization and analytics platform. This security weakness affected a substantial portion of Kibana users running versions between 5.1.1 and 6.1.2, as well as the specific 5.6.6 release, creating a significant attack surface for malicious actors targeting organizations that rely on Kibana for their logging and monitoring infrastructure. The vulnerability specifically manifested through the colored fields formatter functionality, which is commonly used to enhance data visualization by applying color coding to different field values within Kibana dashboards and visualizations.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability occurred through the improper handling of user input within the colored fields formatter component. When Kibana processed user-supplied data for color formatting, it failed to adequately sanitize or escape the input before rendering it in the browser context. This lack of proper input validation and output encoding created an environment where malicious scripts could be injected into the application's response and subsequently executed within the browser of authenticated users. The vulnerability falls under the CWE-79 category of Cross-site Scripting, specifically representing a stored XSS variant where the malicious payload is stored within the application and executed when other users view the affected content.
The operational impact of CVE-2018-3818 extends beyond simple data theft, as it enabled attackers to perform destructive actions on behalf of legitimate users within the Kibana environment. This capability allows for privilege escalation and unauthorized access to sensitive information that users might have access to through their Kibana sessions. Attackers could potentially extract confidential data, modify or delete log entries, manipulate dashboards, or even exfiltrate user credentials if they had access to authentication mechanisms within the Kibana interface. The vulnerability's impact was particularly severe because Kibana is often used to access sensitive operational data, making it an attractive target for adversaries seeking to compromise entire organizations' logging and monitoring systems.
Organizations utilizing affected Kibana versions faced significant risk exposure due to this vulnerability, as it required minimal effort for attackers to exploit once they had access to the system. The attack vector was particularly concerning because it could be leveraged through various means including malicious dashboard creation, log entry manipulation, or even through compromised user accounts that would then be used to inject malicious scripts into shared views. The ATT&CK framework categorizes this vulnerability under the T1059.007 technique of Command and Scripting Interpreter, as attackers could execute arbitrary code within the browser context of other users. Security teams needed to implement immediate mitigations including updating to patched versions, implementing strict input validation for user-generated content, and conducting thorough security assessments of all Kibana configurations and user access controls. The vulnerability also highlighted the importance of proper output encoding practices in web applications and demonstrated how seemingly minor functionality components like field formatters can create substantial security risks when not properly secured against injection attacks.