CVE-2023-31421
Beats, Elastic Agent, APM Server, and Fleet Server Improper Certificate Validation issue
No known exploitation. EPSS puts it in the 23rd percentile. A vendor fix is available.
What to do
The vendor has published a fix. Version details are below where the sources state them.
What it is
From the CVE record
It was discovered that when acting as TLS clients, Beats, Elastic Agent, APM Server, and Fleet Server did not verify whether the server certificate is valid for the target IP address; however, certificate signature validation is still performed. More specifically, when the client is configured to connect to an IP address (instead of a hostname) it does not validate the server certificate's IP SAN values against that IP address and certificate validation fails, and therefore the connection is not blocked as expected.
In plain language
No plain-language summary for this CVE yet.
Exploitation
Where each signal puts this CVE on the scale from published to confirmed exploited.
- CISA KEV
Not in the catalog. CISA has not confirmed exploitation.
- Public exploits
No public exploit or proof of concept found in the sources we track.
- EPSS
0.3% chance of exploitation activity in the next 30 days, which ranks it in the 23rd percentile of scored CVEs.
Exploit Prediction Scoring System, FIRST.org. A probability, not a confirmation.
Lifecycle
5 events over 392 days, from the signal feeds we watch.
- Patch availablerecord updated
- Publishedweakness classified, att&ck mapped
Affected products
And 2 more affected products. See all after sign-in
Technical detail
CVSS 3.1 vector
Open in the CVSS calculatorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
Scored 5.9 by NVD.
How it is reached
- Attack Vector NetworkExploitable remotely over the network without any special conditions
- Attack Complexity HighRequires specific conditions like a race condition or non-default configuration
- Privileges Required NoneNo authentication required — anyone can exploit this
- User Interaction NoneNo user interaction needed — fully automated exploitation
Scope
- Scope UnchangedImpact is limited to the vulnerable component itself
Impact if exploited
- Confidentiality HighTotal information disclosure — all data in the component is compromised
- Integrity NoneNo integrity impact
- Availability NoneNo availability impact
Weaknesses
ATT&CK techniques
Mapped from the weaknesses above (CWE to ATT&CK), not observed in attacks.
Sources
References in the record
- discuss.elastic.co/t/beats-elastic-agent-apm-server-and-fleet-server-8-10-1-security-update-improper-certificate-validation-issue-esa-2023-16/343385
- elastic.co/community/security
- discuss.elastic.co/t/beats-elastic-agent-apm-server-and-fleet-server-8-10-1-security-update-improper-certificate-validation-issue-esa-2023-16/343385&
And 3 more references. See all after sign-in
Watch the software you run.
My Stack ranks new CVEs for your products by real-world exploitation, so the next serious one reaches you without reading every advisory.
We'll flag the next CVE, public exploit or patch for Beats, not every advisory.
A free account adds
- The full version matrix and every affected product
- Exploit links, proofs of concept and Metasploit modules
- Email alerts for the products you watch
- The same data over REST API, MCP and CLI