# CVE-2025-68390: Elasticsearch Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling

> An authenticated user with snapshot restore privileges can cause a denial of service by triggering excessive memory allocation via crafted HTTP requests.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.9 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** An administrator
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 18 Dec 2025
- **Updated:** 19 Dec 2025
- **Also known as:** BIT-elasticsearch-2025-68390, CLEANSTART-2026-JA11762, GHSA-gphj-4h6p-37xq, MINI-2c5m-993x-qm5c, MINI-5xfv-mxrp-2398, MINI-6rcv-3f27-mm2c, MINI-6w7c-q497-w62r, MINI-792f-qvxj-w9vg, MINI-7q4m-6882-v54m, MINI-89hp-c6x4-7rjg, MINI-9rvg-qpvg-hhr9, MINI-9wv7-pjf2-px8r, MINI-g3fh-8cvg-fx39, MINI-m8m2-mxrg-7xrj, MINI-pccj-g5qh-mhwm, MINI-q65h-hq3h-pgm7, MINI-qwq2-mxfj-p482, MINI-wvc9-cqfp-7825, MINI-x84v-3g64-q5gq, ROOT-APP-MAVEN-CVE-2025-68390, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-68390

## What is CVE-2025-68390?

CVE-2025-68390 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Elastic Elasticsearch, published on 18 Dec 2025. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling (CWE-770) in Elasticsearch can allow an authenticated user with snapshot restore privileges to cause Excessive Allocation (CAPEC-130) of memory and a denial of service (DoS) via crafted HTTP request.

Weakness: CWE-770 (Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-68390?

7 open source packages ship an affected version, including org.elasticsearch.plugin:x-pack-core and elasticsearch. It affects 1 product.


| Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `org.elasticsearch.plugin:x-pack-core` | Maven | All versions | 8.19.8 |
| `org.elasticsearch.plugin:x-pack-core` | Maven | All versions | 8.19.8 |
| `org.elasticsearch.plugin:x-pack-core` | Maven | From 9.0.0 | 9.1.8 |
| `org.elasticsearch.plugin:x-pack-core` | Maven | From 9.0.0 | 9.1.8 |
| `org.elasticsearch.plugin:x-pack-core` | Maven | From 9.2.0 | 9.2.2 |
| `org.elasticsearch.plugin:x-pack-core` | Maven | From 9.2.0 | 9.2.2 |
| `elasticsearch` | Bitnami | All versions | 8.19.8, 9.1.8, 9.2.2 |

Products: Elastic Elasticsearch.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-68390?

Upgrade org.elasticsearch.plugin:x-pack-core to a fixed version for your release line: 8.19.8, 9.1.8 or 9.2.2.

## Is CVE-2025-68390 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-68390 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-2025-68390 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-68390 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Elastic Elasticsearch, published on 18 Dec 2025. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-68390 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected packages and fixed versions:
- org.elasticsearch.plugin:x-pack-core (Maven): affected all versions; fixed in 8.19.8
- org.elasticsearch.plugin:x-pack-core (Maven): affected all versions; fixed in 8.19.8
- org.elasticsearch.plugin:x-pack-core (Maven): affected from 9.0.0; fixed in 9.1.8
- org.elasticsearch.plugin:x-pack-core (Maven): affected from 9.0.0; fixed in 9.1.8
- org.elasticsearch.plugin:x-pack-core (Maven): affected from 9.2.0; fixed in 9.2.2
- org.elasticsearch.plugin:x-pack-core (Maven): affected from 9.2.0; fixed in 9.2.2
- elasticsearch (Bitnami): affected all versions; fixed in 8.19.8, 9.1.8, 9.2.2

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-2025-68390/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-68390/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-68390
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-68390
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-68390

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-68390/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.