# CVE-2018-3825: Hardcoded credentials in Elastic Cloud Enterprise (ECE)

> Attackers can access tenant configuration data via ZooKeeper due to a predictable default master encryption key in Elastic Cloud Enterprise.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.9 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 19 Sep 2018
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-4xqm-vfvr-257f

## What is CVE-2018-3825?

CVE-2018-3825 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Elastic Cloud Enterprise (ECE), published on 19 Sep 2018. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

In Elastic Cloud Enterprise (ECE) versions prior to 1.1.4 a default master encryption key is used in the process of granting ZooKeeper access to Elasticsearch clusters. Unless explicitly overwritten, this master key is predictable across all ECE deployments. If an attacker can connect to ZooKeeper directly they would be able to access configuration information of other tenants if their cluster ID is known.

Weakness: CWE-1188 (Initialization of a Resource with an Insecure Default), CWE-321 (Use of Hard-coded Cryptographic Key)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2018-3825?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Elastic Elastic Cloud Enterprise.

## How do I fix CVE-2018-3825?

No fix has been published for CVE-2018-3825 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2018-3825 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-3825 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Elastic Cloud Enterprise (ECE)

- [CVE-2025-37729](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-37729/): Elastic Cloud Enterprise (ECE) Improper Neutralization of Special Elements Used in a Template Engine (critical 9.1)
- [CVE-2025-37736](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-37736/): Elastic Cloud Enterprise Improper Authorization (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2024-37282](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-37282/): Privilege escalation in Elastic Cloud Enterprise (high 8.1)
- [CVE-2023-31418](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-31418/): Elasticsearch uncontrolled resource consumption (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2018-3828](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-3828/): Information disclosure in Elastic Cloud Enterprise (high 7.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2018-3825 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2018-3825 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Elastic Cloud Enterprise (ECE), published on 19 Sep 2018. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-3825 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Elastic Cloud Enterprise (ECE). 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-2018-3825/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-3825/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2018-3825
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-3825
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2018-3825

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-3825/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.