# CVE-2026-78598: Elastic Kibana machine learning privilege escalation via space boundary bypass

Source: https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2026-78598-elastic-kibana-machine-learning-privilege-escalation-via-space  
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-2026-78598 · Severity: medium · CVSS 5.4 · Published 2026-09-02

Kibana is a data visualization and analytics platform used to monitor and analyze data in Elasticsearch clusters. A vulnerability in its machine learning feature allows an authenticated user with job management privileges in one space to expose machine learning job data to all other spaces in the same Kibana instance, even if that user lacks access rights to those other spaces. This can result in unauthorized access to sensitive analytics data and dashboards across the organization.

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

## Quick answers

**Is CVE-2026-78598 exploited in the wild?** No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-2026-78598 being exploited in the wild.

**How severe is CVE-2026-78598?** Medium severity, with a CVSS score of 5.4, published 2 September 2026.

**Which products and versions are affected?** Elastic Kibana 8.0.0–8.19.18, 9.0.0–9.3.7, 9.4.0–9.4.3.

**Is there a fix for CVE-2026-78598?** A patch was published on 2026-09-02: Fixed in Kibana 8.19.19, 9.3.8, and 9.4.4 Junglewise finds every place you run it, drafts the upgrade and applies it once you approve.

**How is CVE-2026-78598 attacked?** It is attacked over the network, in a web application.

**Am I affected by CVE-2026-78598?** 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

The vulnerability is an incorrect authorization flaw (CWE-863) in Kibana's machine learning feature that fails to properly enforce space-level access controls. An authenticated user holding machine learning job management privileges within a single Kibana space can manipulate a job's saved object to become accessible across all spaces in the Kibana instance without authorization. The attack requires authentication and user interaction to create or modify a machine learning job, but no special privileges are needed beyond existing job management roles within one space. The vulnerability allows information disclosure and potential modification of machine learning job data across unauthorized space boundaries. Patches are available in Kibana 8.19.19, 9.3.8, and 9.4.4.

## Affected products

- Elastic Kibana 8.0.0–8.19.18, 9.0.0–9.3.7, 9.4.0–9.4.3

## Timeline

- 2026-09-02: disclosed
- 2026-09-02: patched: Fixed in Kibana 8.19.19, 9.3.8, and 9.4.4

## References

- [https://discuss.elastic.co/t/kibana-8-19-19-9-3-8-9-4-4-security-update-esa-2026-156/390111](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/kibana-8-19-19-9-3-8-9-4-4-security-update-esa-2026-156/390111)

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- [Elastic Kibana path traversal in Fleet feature](https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2026-115294-improper-limitation-of-a-pathname-to-a-restricted-directory-cwe)
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- [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)