# CVE-2026-78590: Elastic Kibana path traversal in Fleet feature

Source: https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2026-78590-elastic-kibana-path-traversal-in-fleet-feature  
Publisher: Junglewise Threat Intelligence, https://junglewise.ai/threats  
Published: 2026-09-02. Updated: 2026-09-25  
License: CC BY 4.0 with a link back

CVE-2026-78590 · Severity: high · CVSS 7.3 · Published 2026-09-02

Kibana, a data visualization and management platform used to search, view, and interact with data stored in Elasticsearch clusters, contains a path traversal vulnerability in its Fleet feature. An attacker with low-level write permissions to Fleet Settings could trick an administrator into deleting sensitive resources such as user accounts or critical organizational assets when the administrator interacts with the Fleet interface.

Technologies: [Elastic Kibana](https://junglewise.ai/threats/technologies/kibana). Vendors: [Elastic](https://junglewise.ai/threats/vendors/elastic).

## Quick answers

**Is CVE-2026-78590 exploited in the wild?** No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-2026-78590 being exploited in the wild.

**How severe is CVE-2026-78590?** High severity, with a CVSS score of 7.3, published 2 September 2026.

**Which products and versions are affected?** Elastic Kibana 8.0.0 to 8.19.17; 9.0.0 to 9.3.5; 9.4.0 to 9.4.2.

**Is there a fix for CVE-2026-78590?** A patch was published on 2026-09-02: Fixed in Kibana 8.19.18, 9.3.6, and 9.4.3 Junglewise finds every place you run it, drafts the upgrade and applies it once you approve.

**How is CVE-2026-78590 attacked?** It is attacked over the network, in a web application.

**Am I affected by CVE-2026-78590?** Check whether you run Elastic Kibana at an affected version. Junglewise does that check for you around the clock: connect your code, cloud and domains, and it matches new vulnerabilities like this one against what you actually run and tells you when one reaches you.

## Technical details

A path traversal vulnerability (CWE-22) exists in the Kibana Fleet feature that allows a low-privileged user with Fleet Settings write access to craft malicious input that causes the application to access unintended internal resources outside a restricted directory. The vulnerability requires social engineering or administrative interaction—specifically, an administrator must interact with the affected Fleet interface—to trigger the actual deletion of privileged resources. An attacker can exploit this to delete critical resources including user accounts and organizational assets. The vulnerability is patched in Kibana versions 8.19.18, 9.3.6, and 9.4.3.

## Affected products

- Elastic Kibana 8.0.0 to 8.19.17; 9.0.0 to 9.3.5; 9.4.0 to 9.4.2

## Timeline

- 2026-09-02: disclosed: CVE-2026-78590 disclosed via NVD and Elastic Security Advisory ESA-2026-158
- 2026-09-02: patched: Fixed in Kibana 8.19.18, 9.3.6, and 9.4.3

## References

- [https://discuss.elastic.co/t/kibana-8-19-18-9-3-6-9-4-3-security-update-esa-2026-158/390113](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/kibana-8-19-18-9-3-6-9-4-3-security-update-esa-2026-158/390113)

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- [Elastic Kibana authorization bypass in connector logs](https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2026-115295-authorization-bypass-through-user-controlled-key-cwe-639-in)
- [Elastic Kibana path traversal in Fleet feature](https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2026-115294-improper-limitation-of-a-pathname-to-a-restricted-directory-cwe)
- [Elastic Kibana credential disclosure in Observability onboarding](https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2026-115293-insertion-of-sensitive-information-into-sent-data-cwe-201-in)
- [Elastic Kibana authorization bypass in Machine Learning](https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2026-115292-authorization-bypass-through-user-controlled-key-cwe-639-in)
- [Elastic Kibana incorrect authorization in Fleet settings](https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2026-102412-incorrect-authorization-cwe-863-in-kibana-can-lead-to-sensitive)