# CVE-2017-8448: Privilege escalation in Elastic X-Pack Alerting

> Users with specific built-in roles can create watches to gain elevated privileges in Elastic X-Pack Alerting.

- **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:** 28 Sep 2017
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-frvx-m4v3-94v5

## What is CVE-2017-8448?

CVE-2017-8448 is a high-severity vulnerability in Elastic X-Pack Alerting, published on 28 Sep 2017. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

An error was found in the permission model used by X-Pack Alerting 5.0.0 to 5.6.0 whereby users mapped to certain built-in roles could create a watch that results in that user gaining elevated privileges.

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

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2017-8448?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Elastic X-Pack.

## How do I fix CVE-2017-8448?

No fix has been published for CVE-2017-8448 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2017-8448 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2017-8448 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Elastic X-Pack Alerting

- [CVE-2018-3822](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-3822/): Auth bypass in X-Pack Security (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2017-8438](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-8438/): Privilege escalation in X-Pack Security (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-2017-8448 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2017-8448 is a high-severity vulnerability in Elastic X-Pack Alerting, published on 28 Sep 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-2017-8448 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Elastic X-Pack Alerting. 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-2017-8448/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-8448/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2017-8448
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2017-8448
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2017-8448

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-8448/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.