CVE-2015-1427

Confirmed PUBLISHED

The Groovy scripting engine in Elasticsearch before 1.3.8 and 1.4.x before 1.4.3 allows remote attackers to bypass the sandbox protection mechanism...

Elastic · Elasticsearch

Exploited in the wild PoC available

Recommended Action

Prioritize remediation. Validate affected assets and apply vendor fixes on an accelerated timeline.

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Confidence

Confirmed

Exploitation Status

Exploited in the wild

Observed in Sensors

Attempts (30d)

—

Unique Attacker IPs

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CISA KEV

In CISA KEV

CVSS / EPSS

9.8 Critical EPSS 99.9%

At a Glance

The Groovy scripting engine in Elasticsearch before 1.3.8 and 1.4.x before 1.4.3 allows remote attackers to bypass the sandbox protection mechanism and execute arbitrary shell commands via a crafted script.

cisa elasticsearch metasploit nuclei_scanner

CVE Published: Feb 17, 2015
Exploitation Reported: Mar 25, 2022
CVSS: 9.8 Critical
EPSS: 99.9%

Remote Low complexity No user interaction Unauthenticated

Affected Versions

Vendor	Product	Version	Status
n/a	n/a	n/a	Affected

CVE References

RHSA-2017:0868 access.redhat.com · Vendor Advisory https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2017:0868
72585 securityfocus.com · VDB Entry http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/72585
elasticsearch-cve20151427-command-exec(100850) exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com · VDB Entry https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/100850
20150211 Elasticsearch vulnerability CVE-2015-1427 securityfocus.com · Mailing List http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/534689/100/0/threaded
packetstormsecurity.com/files/130784/ElasticSearch-Unauthenticated-R... packetstormsecurity.com · CVE Record http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/130784/ElasticSearch-Unauthentic...

Show 3 more references

elasticsearch.com/blog/elasticsearch-1-4-3-1-3-8-released elasticsearch.com · CVE Record http://www.elasticsearch.com/blog/elasticsearch-1-4-3-1-3-8-released/
packetstormsecurity.com/files/130368/Elasticsearch-1.3.7-1.4.2-Sandb... packetstormsecurity.com · CVE Record http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/130368/Elasticsearch-1.3.7-1.4.2...
elastic.co/community/security elastic.co · CVE Record https://www.elastic.co/community/security/

Recommended Actions

Prioritize remediation. Validate affected assets and apply vendor fixes on an accelerated timeline.
Check enrichment artifacts for scanner coverage and available PoCs before rolling remediation validation.
Use the Pro API to automate enrichment, telemetry, and workflow delivery for VM, SOC, and CTI pipelines.

Known Exploited Vulnerability Sources

Catalogues that list this CVE as a known exploited vulnerability.

Per-source evidence links for KEV attestations are available through the KEVIntel Pro API.

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Source	Added
CISA First	2022-03-25 00:00 UTC
The Shadowserver	2026-06-05 00:00 UTC

Scanner Artifacts

Nuclei and Metasploit references linked to this CVE.

Scanner	Reference	Detected
Nuclei	https://github.com/projectdiscovery/nuclei-templates/blob/main/http/cves/2015/CVE-2015-1427.yaml	Apr 25, 2025
Metasploit	https://github.com/rapid7/metasploit-framework/blob/master/modules/exploits/multi/elasticsearch/search_groovy_script.rb	Apr 28, 2025

CVSS Scores

CVSS v3.1 9.8 Critical

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

CVSS v2.0 7.5 High

AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P

Exploitation Status

Exploited in the wild

Recorded 2022-03-25 00:00:00 UTC · CISA

Proof of concept available

Recorded 2017-01-09 20:08:56 UTC · GitHub

Scanner Integrations

Scanner	Reference	Detected
Metasploit	https://github.com/rapid7/metasploit-framework/blob/master/modules/exploits/multi/elasticsearch/search_groovy_script.rb	Apr 28, 2025
Nuclei	https://github.com/projectdiscovery/nuclei-templates/blob/main/http/cves/2015/CVE-2015-1427.yaml	Apr 25, 2025

Potential Proof of Concepts

These PoCs are unverified and could contain malware. Use at your own risk.

Sebikea/CVE-2015-1427-for-trixie

github · Created 2024-11-10 15:33:18 UTC · 0 stars

To test elasticsearch vulnerabillity on newer version of debian

xpgdgit/CVE-2015-1427

github · Created 2022-07-29 09:14:56 UTC · 0 stars

cyberharsh/Groovy-scripting-engine-CVE-2015-1427

github · Created 2020-06-22 05:00:22 UTC · 0 stars

t0kx/exploit-CVE-2015-1427

github · Created 2017-01-09 20:08:56 UTC · 33 stars

Elasticsearch 1.4.0 < 1.4.2 Remote Code Execution exploit and vulnerable container

ElasticSearch - Remote Code Execution

nuclei · Created Unknown

search_groovy_script

metasploit · Created Unknown

Metasploit module for CVE-2015-1427

Automate This Intelligence with the Pro API

Confidence scoring, exploit status, sensor telemetry, PoCs, scanner integrations, mentions, and tags are available programmatically for VM, SOC, and CTI workflows.

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Pro API Example

GET /api/v2/pro/kevs/CVE-2015-1427

{
  "cve_id": "CVE-2015-1427",
  "title": "The Groovy scripting engine in Elasticsearch before 1.3.8 and 1.4.x before 1....",
  "affected_vendor": "Elastic",
  "affected_product": "Elasticsearch",
  "affected_versions": [
    { "vendor": "...", "product": "...", "status": "affected", "display_label": "..." }
  ],
  "confidence": "Confirmed",
  "cvss_score": 9.8,
  "epss_score": 0.99906,
  "exploit_status": {
    "exploited_in_the_wild": true,
    "active_exploitation_observed": false
  },
  "sensor_telemetry": { "...": "Pro API fields" },
  "proof_of_concepts": [ "..." ],
  "scanner_integrations": [ "..." ]
}

The free JSON API returns basic KEV fields only. Confidence, telemetry, and artifact enrichment require Pro API access.

CVE-2015-1427

At a Glance

Affected Versions

CVE References

Recommended Actions

Known Exploited Vulnerability Sources

Scanner Artifacts

Virtual Patch

CVSS Scores

Exploitation Status

Scanner Integrations

Potential Proof of Concepts

Timeline

Automate This Intelligence with the Pro API