How severe is CVE-2018-17247?

CVE-2018-17247 has a CVSS score of 5.9/10, rated MEDIUM. Review your exposure and patch according to your risk tolerance.

Which packages are affected by CVE-2018-17247?

CVE-2018-17247 affects the following packages: org.elasticsearch:elasticsearch (Maven). Ecosystems affected: Maven.

How do I fix CVE-2018-17247?

Update org.elasticsearch:elasticsearch to 6.5.2 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2018-17247 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect CVE-2018-17247 in my Maven dependencies?

Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for org.elasticsearch:elasticsearch. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.

How do I mitigate CVE-2018-17247 if there is no patch (or I can't update yet)?

If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.

How does O3 Security protect against CVE-2018-17247?

O3 pinpoints whether CVE-2018-17247 is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.

Is CVE-2018-17247 actively exploited in the wild?

No public exploit code has been indexed for CVE-2018-17247 yet. This does not mean the vulnerability cannot be exploited — absence of public exploits does not imply safety. Apply the recommended fix and use O3 Security to monitor your exposure.

What is the EPSS score for CVE-2018-17247?

CVE-2018-17247 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 1.4%, placing it in the 69th percentile of all CVEs. EPSS is maintained by FIRST.org and estimates the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. This score indicates relatively lower exploitation probability, though the CVSS severity should still guide your patching priority.

When was CVE-2018-17247 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2018-17247 was published on December 20, 2018 and was last updated on April 10, 2026. Advisory data evolves as severity scores, affected ranges, and exploit intelligence are revised — always check the latest version of the advisory before acting.

CVE-2018-17247: elasticsearch XML External Entity (XXE) (Medium…

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

1.4%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Lower Risk69th percentile+1.10%

EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.

Blast Radius

1 pkg affected

☕org.elasticsearch:elasticsearch

Real-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Maven packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.

Description

Elasticsearch Security versions 6.5.0 and 6.5.1 contain an XXE flaw in Machine Learning's find_file_structure API. If a policy allowing external network access has been added to Elasticsearch's Java Security Manager then an attacker could send a specially crafted request capable of leaking content of local files on the Elasticsearch node. This could allow a user to access information that they should not have access to.

Affected Packages

1 total 1 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
☕Maven	`org.elasticsearch:elasticsearch`	≥ 6.5.0&&< 6.5.2	6.5.2

Detection & mitigation playbook

Open-source dependency

Detect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for org.elasticsearch:elasticsearch. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.
Fix
Update org.elasticsearch:elasticsearch to 6.5.2 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2018-17247 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 pinpoints whether CVE-2018-17247 is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.

Tailored to CVE-2018-17247. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Elasticsearch Security versions 6.5.0 and 6.5.1 contain an XXE flaw in Machine Learning's find_file_structure API. If a policy allowing external network access has been added to Elasticsearch's Java Security Manager then an attacker could send a specially crafted request capable of leaking content of local files on the Elasticsearch node. This could allow a user to access information that they should not have access to.

O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

Is CVE-2018-17247 in your dependencies?

O3 detects CVE-2018-17247 across Maven dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.

Scan my dependencies How O3 SCA works

CVE-2018-17247