What is CVE-2014-3120?

CVE-2014-3120 is a high-severity vulnerability in Elastic Elasticsearch, classified under Improper Access Control. CVSS score: 8.1/10. Published 2014-07-28.

How severe is CVE-2014-3120?

High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 8.1 out of 10.

Is CVE-2014-3120 known to be exploited?

Yes. CVE-2014-3120 is listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2022-03-25), indicating it is being actively exploited. 102 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed.

Vulnerability in Elastic Elasticsearch

CVE-2014-3120

The default configuration in Elasticsearch before 1.2 enables dynamic scripting, which allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary MVEL expressions and Java code via the source parameter to _search. NOTE: this only violates the vendor's intended security policy if the user does not run Elasticsearch in its own independent virtual machine.

Published 2014-07-28 · last modified 2026-06-17.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 8.1 (High). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.886 (99.8th percentile), scored 2026-10-15.

High probability of exploitation in the next 30 days — patch promptly. 100th percentile — 99.8% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.886 · newest: 0.886 · change: 0.000

Affected products

Elastic Elasticsearch

Weakness classification (CWE)

CWE-284 — Improper Access Control

CISA KEV (Known Exploited Vulnerabilities)

This CVE is on the CISA KEV catalog, added on 2022-03-25. CISA KEV inclusion means CISA has confirmed in-the-wild exploitation; US federal agencies are required to remediate within a published due date.

BOD 22-01 due date: 2022-04-15.

Required action: Apply updates per vendor instructions.

Public proof-of-concept exploits

References

www.elastic.co/blog/logstash-1-4-3-released (Vendor Advisory)
www.exploit-db.com/exploits/33370 (Exploit, exploit)
www.securityfocus.com/bid/67731 (Exploit, vdb-entry)
www.osvdb.org/106949 (vdb-entry, Broken Link)
bouk.co/blog/elasticsearch-rce/ (Exploit)
www.rapid7.com/db/modules/exploit/multi/elasticsearch/script_mvel_rce (Exploit, Third Party Advisory)
www.found.no/foundation/elasticsearch-security/ (Exploit)
www.elastic.co/community/security/ (Vendor Advisory)
134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0 (US Government Resource)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2014-3120?: CVE-2014-3120 is a high-severity vulnerability in Elastic Elasticsearch, classified under Improper Access Control. CVSS score: 8.1/10. Published 2014-07-28.
How severe is CVE-2014-3120?: High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 8.1 out of 10.
Is CVE-2014-3120 known to be exploited?: Yes. CVE-2014-3120 is listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2022-03-25), indicating it is being actively exploited. 102 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed.