CVE-2023-31418Network attack vector

Unauthenticated node termination via malformed HTTP requests

Published Oct 26, 2023 · Updated Feb 13, 2025

Uncontrolled resource consumption in Elasticsearch 7.17.12 and 8.0.0 through 8.8.2 allows remote attackers to terminate a node. Elastic has not disclosed which HTTP parsing operation consumes memory; it states that a moderate number of malformed requests exhausts the heap. No authentication or user interaction is required, and exhaustion ends the Elasticsearch process with an OutOfMemory error, interrupting service.

CVSS severity7.5
High
EPSS probability1.64%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Uncontrolled resource consumption in Elasticsearch 7.17.12 and 8.0.0 through 8.8.2 allows remote attackers to terminate a node. Elastic has not disclosed which HTTP parsing operation consumes memory; it states that a moderate number of malformed requests exhausts the heap. No authentication or user interaction is required, and exhaustion ends the Elasticsearch process with an OutOfMemory error, interrupting service.

The record

CVE
CVE-2023-31418
Published
Oct 26, 2023
Updated
Feb 13, 2025
Vendor
Elastic
Product
Elasticsearch
Classifications
CWE-400, T1499
Attack vector
network
Privileges
unauthenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Oct 26, 2023CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Feb 13, 2025Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

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Is a vulnerable build present?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=2.13.3 <3.6.0
  2. Affected versionversion=7.17.12
  3. Affected versionversion=8.0.0 <8.8.2

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectornetwork
Required privilegesunauthenticated

What is affected?

Elastic · Elasticsearchversion=2.13.3 <3.6.0; version=7.17.12; version=8.0.0 <8.8.2

Published CVSS scores

7.5ElasticCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

Sep 9, 2026Sep 15, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 15, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectornetwork
Privilegesunauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-400Uncontrolled Resource Consumption
T1499Endpoint Denial of Service

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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