# CVE-2026-78599: Elastic Kibana path traversal in Fleet leading to unauthorized deletion

Source: https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2026-78599-elastic-kibana-path-traversal-in-fleet-leading-to-unauthorized  
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-2026-78599 · Severity: medium · CVSS 6.5 · Published 2026-09-02

Kibana is a visualization and analytics tool used to monitor and analyze data in the Elastic Stack. A path traversal vulnerability in the Fleet feature allows a low-privileged user to craft malicious requests that, when interacted with by an administrator, can cause deletion of unintended internal resources. This could result in unauthorized data loss or system disruption.

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

## Quick answers

**Is CVE-2026-78599 exploited in the wild?** No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-2026-78599 being exploited in the wild.

**How severe is CVE-2026-78599?** Medium severity, with a CVSS score of 6.5, published 2 September 2026.

**Which products and versions are affected?** Elastic Kibana 8.0.0–8.19.17, 9.0.0–9.4.2.

**Is there a fix for CVE-2026-78599?** A patch was published on 2026-09-02: Fixed in Kibana 8.19.18 and 9.4.3 Junglewise finds every place you run it, drafts the upgrade and applies it once you approve.

**How is CVE-2026-78599 attacked?** It is attacked over the network.

**Am I affected by CVE-2026-78599?** 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 Kibana's Fleet feature where improper validation of pathname inputs allows directory traversal attacks (CAPEC-126). A user with Fleet write access can inject specially crafted paths that, when processed by administrative delete operations, cause the deletion of internal resources outside the intended scope. The vulnerability is network-reachable and requires a low privilege account with Fleet write permissions and subsequent interaction by an administrator through the Fleet interface. Fixes are available in Kibana 8.19.18 and 9.4.3.

## Affected products

- Elastic Kibana 8.0.0–8.19.17, 9.0.0–9.4.2

## Timeline

- 2026-09-02: disclosed
- 2026-09-02: patched: Fixed in Kibana 8.19.18 and 9.4.3

## References

- [https://discuss.elastic.co/t/kibana-8-19-18-9-4-3-security-update-esa-2026-157/390112](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/kibana-8-19-18-9-4-3-security-update-esa-2026-157/390112)

## Related threats

- [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)