📄 Description (English)
Kibana Arbitrary Code Execution — Kibana contain an arbitrary code execution flaw in the Timelion visualizer.
🤖 AI Executive Summary
CVE-2019-7609 is a critical arbitrary code execution vulnerability in Kibana's Timelion visualizer, scoring 9.0 on the CVSS scale. An attacker with access to the Timelion interface can craft malicious expressions that execute arbitrary code on the Kibana server, potentially leading to full system compromise. Active exploits are publicly available, making this vulnerability highly dangerous for any organization running unpatched Kibana instances. Immediate patching is strongly recommended as this vulnerability has been actively exploited in the wild.
📄 Description (Arabic)
🤖 AI Intelligence Analysis Analyzed: Apr 16, 2026 14:32
🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia Impact Assessment
Saudi organizations leveraging the Elastic Stack (ELK) for SIEM, log management, and security analytics are at significant risk. Key sectors include: Government/NCA — ministries and agencies using Kibana dashboards for operational monitoring; Banking/SAMA — financial institutions using ELK for fraud detection and compliance reporting; Energy/ARAMCO — industrial and operational technology environments using Kibana for infrastructure monitoring; Telecom/STC — network operations centers using ELK for traffic analysis. Exploitation could allow attackers to pivot from the Kibana server into internal networks, exfiltrate sensitive log data, or disrupt security monitoring capabilities, effectively blinding SOC teams during an attack.
🏢 Affected Saudi Sectors
Banking
Government
Energy
Telecom
Healthcare
Defense
Technology
⚖️ Saudi Risk Score (AI)
9.2
/ 10.0
🔧 Remediation Steps (English)
IMMEDIATE ACTIONS:
1. Identify all Kibana instances in your environment and check version numbers immediately.
2. Restrict access to Kibana's Timelion interface at the network/firewall level if patching cannot be done immediately.
3. Disable Timelion plugin if not required: set 'timelion.enabled: false' in kibana.yml.
PATCHING GUIDANCE:
4. Upgrade Kibana to version 5.6.15, 6.6.1, or later immediately.
5. Follow Elastic's official security advisory at https://www.elastic.co/community/security.
6. After patching, restart Kibana service and verify the version.
COMPENSATING CONTROLS:
7. Place Kibana behind a VPN or restrict access to trusted IP ranges only.
8. Implement authentication and role-based access control (RBAC) for Kibana.
9. Enable X-Pack Security if not already enabled to enforce authentication.
10. Monitor Kibana logs for unusual Timelion expressions or unexpected outbound connections.
DETECTION RULES:
11. Alert on Kibana process spawning unexpected child processes (e.g., bash, sh, cmd).
12. Monitor for outbound network connections from the Kibana server to unknown external IPs.
13. Search logs for Timelion queries containing '.es(', 'require(', or 'process.env' patterns.
14. Deploy EDR on Kibana servers and alert on suspicious process execution chains.
🔧 خطوات المعالجة (العربية)
الإجراءات الفورية:
1. تحديد جميع نسخ Kibana في بيئتك والتحقق من أرقام الإصدارات فوراً.
2. تقييد الوصول إلى واجهة Timelion على مستوى الشبكة أو جدار الحماية إذا تعذّر التصحيح الفوري.
3. تعطيل إضافة Timelion إذا لم تكن مطلوبة عبر إضافة 'timelion.enabled: false' في ملف kibana.yml.
إرشادات التصحيح:
4. ترقية Kibana إلى الإصدار 5.6.15 أو 6.6.1 أو أحدث فوراً.
5. اتباع النشرة الأمنية الرسمية من Elastic على الموقع الرسمي.
6. إعادة تشغيل خدمة Kibana بعد التصحيح والتحقق من الإصدار.
ضوابط التعويض:
7. وضع Kibana خلف VPN أو تقييد الوصول لنطاقات IP موثوقة فقط.
8. تطبيق المصادقة والتحكم في الوصول المبني على الأدوار (RBAC) لـ Kibana.
9. تفعيل X-Pack Security لفرض المصادقة إن لم يكن مفعّلاً.
10. مراقبة سجلات Kibana بحثاً عن تعبيرات Timelion غير معتادة أو اتصالات خارجية مشبوهة.
قواعد الكشف:
11. التنبيه عند قيام عملية Kibana بإنشاء عمليات فرعية غير متوقعة.
12. مراقبة الاتصالات الصادرة من خادم Kibana إلى عناوين IP خارجية مجهولة.
13. البحث في السجلات عن استعلامات Timelion تحتوي على أنماط مشبوهة.
14. نشر EDR على خوادم Kibana والتنبيه على سلاسل تنفيذ العمليات المشبوهة.
📋 Regulatory Compliance Mapping
🟢 NCA ECC 2024
ECC-1-4-2: Vulnerability Management — Critical patch application within defined SLA
ECC-2-3-1: Network Security — Restrict unnecessary service exposure
ECC-2-5-1: Secure Configuration Management
ECC-3-3-2: Security Monitoring and Log Management
ECC-1-3-1: Asset Management — Inventory of internet-facing services
🔵 SAMA CSF
Cybersecurity Operations — Vulnerability and Patch Management
Cybersecurity Operations — Security Monitoring and Analytics
Cybersecurity Architecture — Network Segmentation and Access Control
Cybersecurity Governance — Risk Assessment and Treatment
🟡 ISO 27001:2022
A.12.6.1 — Management of technical vulnerabilities
A.12.4.1 — Event logging
A.13.1.3 — Segregation in networks
A.9.4.2 — Secure log-on procedures
A.14.2.2 — System change control procedures
🟣 PCI DSS v4.0
Requirement 6.3.3 — All system components protected from known vulnerabilities by patching
Requirement 10.4 — Audit logs reviewed to identify anomalies
Requirement 1.3 — Network access controls to restrict inbound and outbound traffic
🔗 References & Sources 0
No references.
📦 Affected Products / CPE 1 entries
Elastic:Kibana