# CVE-2017-8438: Privilege escalation in X-Pack Security

> Attackers can bypass run_as restrictions in Elastic X-Pack Security to gain unauthorized privileges when specific role templates are used.

- **Severity:** High 8.8 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 5 Jun 2017
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-c4fv-4x26-f38h

## What is CVE-2017-8438?

CVE-2017-8438 is a high-severity vulnerability in Elastic X-Pack Security, published on 5 Jun 2017. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Elastic X-Pack Security versions 5.0.0 to 5.4.0 contain a privilege escalation bug in the run_as functionality. This bug prevents transitioning into the specified user specified in a run_as request. If a role has been created using a template that contains the _user properties, the behavior of run_as will be incorrect. Additionally if the run_as user specified does not exist, the transition will not happen.

Weakness: CWE-269 (Improper Privilege Management), CWE-284 (Improper Access Control)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2017-8438?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Elastic X-Pack.

## How do I fix CVE-2017-8438?

No fix has been published for CVE-2017-8438 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2017-8438 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2017-8438 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Elastic X-Pack Security

- [CVE-2018-3822](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-3822/): Auth bypass in X-Pack Security (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2017-8448](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-8448/): Privilege escalation in Elastic X-Pack Alerting (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2017-8450](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-8450/): Missing authorization in Elastic X-Pack Security (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2017-8447](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-8447/): Privilege escalation in Elastic X-Pack Security (medium 6.5)
- [CVE-2017-8442](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-8442/): Information disclosure in Elasticsearch X-Pack Security (medium 6.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2017-8438 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2017-8438 is a high-severity vulnerability in Elastic X-Pack Security, published on 5 Jun 2017. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2017-8438 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Elastic X-Pack Security. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-8438/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-8438/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2017-8438
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2017-8438
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2017-8438

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-8438/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.