CVE-2026-72681 Missing Authorization in Kibana Leading to Privilege Escalation and Information Disclosure
Attackers can escalate privileges and read sensitive data by bypassing authorization checks in Kibana Agent Builder.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Any signed-in user
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2026-72681?
CVE-2026-72681 is a medium-severity missing authorization vulnerability in Elastic Kibana, published on 13 Aug 2026. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Official description
Kibana Agent Builder does not correctly verify that the requesting user holds the privileges required by a separate Kibana feature before it creates and runs a tool that invokes that feature's functionality. This allows privilege escalation and could lead to disclosure of sensitive information that the user is not authorized to read.
Weakness: CWE-862
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-72681?
2 open source packages ship an affected version, including kibana and elk. It affects 1 product.
| Package | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
kibana Bitnami | From 9.4.0 | 9.4.4 |
elk Bitnami | From 9.4.0 | 9.4.4 |
Products include Elastic Kibana.
How do I fix CVE-2026-72681?
Upgrade kibana to 9.4.4 or later.
Upgrade, and check permissions on every request on the server, not only in the interface. More about Missing authorization.
Is CVE-2026-72681 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-72681 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Elastic Kibana
Sources
Also known as BIT-elk-2026-72681, BIT-kibana-2026-72681, GHSA-9fww-g6xw-7wv9, MINI-cr8r-4fc2-wxjw.