CVE-2020-7019 — elasticsearch
MEDIUMCVE-2020-7019 is a medium-severity (CVSS 6.5) CWE-270 vulnerability in org.elasticsearch:elasticsearch. A fix is available for org.elasticsearch:elasticsearch — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Improper privilege management in elasticsearch
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
Where this sits among everything scored
Real-World Exposure
org.elasticsearch:elasticsearch☕org.elasticsearch:elasticsearchReal-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
In Elasticsearch before 7.9.0 and 6.8.12 a field disclosure flaw was found when running a scrolling search with Field Level Security. If a user runs the same query another more privileged user recently ran, the scrolling search can leak fields that should be hidden. This could result in an attacker gaining additional permissions against a restricted index.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | org.elasticsearch:elasticsearch | ≥ 7.0.0&&< 7.9.0 | 7.9.0org.elasticsearch:elasticsearch:7.9.0 |
| ☕Maven | org.elasticsearch:elasticsearch | all versions | 6.8.12org.elasticsearch:elasticsearch:6.8.12 |
Affected Products
elasticsearchelasticDetection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for org.elasticsearch:elasticsearch, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update org.elasticsearch:elasticsearch to 7.9.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2020-7019 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Close the privilege gap rather than the entry point: audit which accounts, roles and service identities can reach the affected operation, drop the component to the least privilege it actually needs, and review file and directory permissions created by earlier installs — a default left in place is what makes this reachable.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2020-7019 in your dependencies?
Find it across Maven, including transitive dependencies.