# CVE-2023-31417: Elasticsearch Insertion of sensitive information in audit logs

> Attackers can view sensitive credentials in cleartext audit logs if audit logging is enabled and deprecated URIs are used.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.1 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** An administrator
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 26 Oct 2023
- **Updated:** 13 Feb 2025
- **Also known as:** BIT-elasticsearch-2023-31417, GHSA-99pc-69q9-jxf2, MINI-h7rp-j9jc-w45m, MINI-hg43-3j8q-mq47, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-31417

## What is CVE-2023-31417?

CVE-2023-31417 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Elastic Elasticsearch, published on 26 Oct 2023. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Elasticsearch generally filters out sensitive information and credentials before logging to the audit log. It was found that this filtering was not applied when requests to Elasticsearch use certain deprecated URIs for APIs. The impact of this flaw is that sensitive information such as passwords and tokens might be printed in cleartext in Elasticsearch audit logs. Note that audit logging is disabled by default and needs to be explicitly enabled and even when audit logging is enabled, request bodies that could contain sensitive information are not printed to the audit log unless explicitly configured.

Weakness: CWE-532 (Insertion of Sensitive Information into Log File)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-31417?

5 open source packages ship an affected version, including org.elasticsearch:elasticsearch and elasticsearch. It affects 1 product.


| Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `org.elasticsearch:elasticsearch` | Maven | From 7.0.0 | 7.17.13 |
| `org.elasticsearch:elasticsearch` | Maven | From 7.0.0 | 7.17.13 |
| `org.elasticsearch:elasticsearch` | Maven | From 8.0.0 | 8.9.2 |
| `org.elasticsearch:elasticsearch` | Maven | From 8.0.0 | 8.9.2 |
| `elasticsearch` | Bitnami | From 7.0.0 | 7.17.13, 8.9.2 |

Products: Elastic Elasticsearch.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-31417?

Upgrade org.elasticsearch:elasticsearch to a fixed version for your release line: 7.17.13 or 8.9.2.

## Is CVE-2023-31417 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-31417 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Elastic Elasticsearch

- [CVE-2015-1427](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-1427/): Elasticsearch Groovy Scripting Engine Remote Code Execution (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2014-3120](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2014-3120/): Elasticsearch Remote Code Execution (high 8.1, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2015-5377](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-5377/): Code injection in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2026-72649](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-72649/): Deserialization of Untrusted Data in Elasticsearch Leading to Remote Code Execution (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2026-72642](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-72642/): Use of Out-of-range Pointer Offset in the Elasticsearch Machine Learning Native Inference Process (high 8.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-31417 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-31417 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Elastic Elasticsearch, published on 26 Oct 2023. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-31417 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected packages and fixed versions:
- org.elasticsearch:elasticsearch (Maven): affected from 7.0.0; fixed in 7.17.13
- org.elasticsearch:elasticsearch (Maven): affected from 7.0.0; fixed in 7.17.13
- org.elasticsearch:elasticsearch (Maven): affected from 8.0.0; fixed in 8.9.2
- org.elasticsearch:elasticsearch (Maven): affected from 8.0.0; fixed in 8.9.2
- elasticsearch (Bitnami): affected from 7.0.0; fixed in 7.17.13, 8.9.2

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-2023-31417/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-31417/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-31417
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-31417
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-31417

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-31417/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.