CVE-2024-23444: Elasticsearch elasticsearch-certutil csr fails to encrypt private key

Severity: high (CVSS 7.5 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.2% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2024-07-31 · updated 2026-06-17
Weakness: CWE-311

Description

It was discovered by Elastic engineering that when elasticsearch-certutil CLI tool is used with the csr option in order to create a new Certificate Signing Requests, the associated private key that is generated is stored on disk unencrypted even if the --pass parameter is passed in the command invocation.

Affected products

Elasticsearch: from 7.0.0 before 7.17.23; from 8.0.0 before 8.13.0 — fixed in 7.17.23, 8.13.0

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Elasticsearch 7.17.23, 8.13.0. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-8-13-0-7-17-23-security-update-esa-2024-12/364157
https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20250404-0001/

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