Detections
Analytics

Elasticsearch 9.0.x < 9.4.6 / 9.5.x < 9.5.2 DoS (ESA-2026-196)

medium Nessus Plugin ID 363432

Synopsis

The remote host is missing a security update.

Description

The version of Elasticsearch installed on the remote host is 9.0.x prior to 9.4.6, or 9.5.x prior to 9.5.2. It is, therefore, affected by a vulnerability as referenced in the ESA-2026-196 advisory.

 - Uncontrolled Recursion (CWE-674) in Elasticsearch can lead to Denial of Service via a specially crafted, deeply nested request submitted to the aggregation feature of the search API. Elasticsearch contains an uncontrolled recursion weakness in its search aggregation processing. An authenticated user with read access to a single index can submit a specially crafted request containing deeply nested aggregation definitions. Processing this request triggers unbounded recursive execution that exhausts the server process's available resources, causing the affected node to terminate. The node does not recover automatically and requires manual intervention to restore service. (CVE-2026-103006)

Note that Nessus has not tested for this issue but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

Solution

Upgrade to Elasticsearch version 9.4.6, or 9.5.2 or later as appropriate for your release branch.

See Also

https://discuss.elastic.co/t/390870

Plugin Details

Severity: Medium

ID: 363432

File Name: elasticsearch_esa_2026_196.nasl

Version: 1.1

Type: Combined

Agent: unix

Family: Misc.

Published: 10/6/2026

Updated: 10/6/2026

Configuration: Enable thorough checks (optional)

Supported Sensors: Nessus Agent, Nessus

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Medium

Score: 5

Percentile: 93.17

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 6.8

Temporal Score: 5

Vector: CVSS2#AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:N/I:N/A:C

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2026-103006

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 6.5

Temporal Score: 5.7

Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Temporal Vector: CVSS:3.0/E:U/RL:O/RC:C

Vulnerability Information

CPE: cpe:/a:elastic:elasticsearch, cpe:/a:elasticsearch:elasticsearch

Required KB Items: installed_sw/Elasticsearch

Exploit Ease: No known exploits are available

Patch Publication Date: 10/6/2026

Vulnerability Publication Date: 10/6/2026

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2026-103006