CVE-2021-22141 in Kibana
Summary
by MITRE • 11/19/2022
An open redirect flaw was found in Kibana versions before 7.13.0 and 6.8.16. If a logged in user visits a maliciously crafted URL, it could result in Kibana redirecting the user to an arbitrary website.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 04/30/2025
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2021-22141 represents a critical open redirect flaw within the Kibana platform that affects versions prior to 7.13.0 and 6.8.16. This security weakness stems from inadequate input validation mechanisms within Kibana's redirect functionality, allowing attackers to craft malicious URLs that can deceive authenticated users into navigating to unintended destinations. The flaw specifically exploits the application's trust in user-provided redirect parameters without proper sanitization or validation checks.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability occurs when Kibana processes redirect URLs that are passed as parameters in the application's web interface. Attackers can manipulate these parameters to specify arbitrary destination URLs, leveraging the fact that the application fails to validate whether the intended redirect target is within the trusted domain or if it represents a legitimate internal resource. This allows for the execution of phishing attacks, credential harvesting, or redirection to malicious websites that appear to be legitimate Kibana interfaces. The vulnerability is particularly dangerous because it requires no special privileges beyond access to a legitimate Kibana session, making it exploitable through social engineering or compromised user accounts.
From an operational impact perspective, this vulnerability creates significant risks for organizations relying on Kibana for log analysis and monitoring. When authenticated users are tricked into visiting malicious URLs, attackers can potentially capture session cookies, credentials, or other sensitive information transmitted during the redirect process. The attack vector typically involves sending crafted emails or links to users within the organization, exploiting the trust users place in their Kibana environment. This flaw can lead to unauthorized access to sensitive monitoring data, potential lateral movement within the network, and compromise of other systems that rely on Kibana for security operations. The vulnerability also impacts the integrity of security monitoring processes by enabling attackers to bypass normal security controls through deception.
Organizations should immediately upgrade to Kibana versions 7.13.0 or 6.8.16 and later to remediate this vulnerability, as these releases contain proper input validation and sanitization mechanisms for redirect parameters. Additional mitigations include implementing strict network controls to prevent access to potentially malicious URLs, conducting user awareness training to recognize suspicious links, and monitoring for unusual redirect patterns in Kibana logs. Security teams should also consider implementing web application firewalls with rules specifically designed to detect and block open redirect attempts. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-601 open redirect weakness category and represents a significant risk under ATT&CK framework's initial access and credential access techniques, particularly T1566 for phishing and T1078 for valid accounts. Organizations should also review their incident response procedures to ensure they can quickly detect and respond to potential exploitation attempts involving this vulnerability.