---
id: CVE-2026-103007
title: >-
  Incorrect Authorization (CWE-863) in Elasticsearch can lead to Privilege
  Escalation via a delegated administrative privilege whose scope is not fully
  enforced during authorization checks
summary: >-
  Incorrect Authorization (CWE-863) in Elasticsearch can lead to Privilege
  Escalation via a delegated administrative privilege whose scope is not fully
  enforced during authorization checks. Elasticsearch contains an incorrect
  authorization…
severity: high
cvss: 7.2
cvssVector: 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H'
cwe:
  - CWE-863
vendor: Elastic
product: Elasticsearch
affected:
  - Elasticsearch >= 8.16.0 <= 8.19.21
  - Elasticsearch >= 9.0.0 <= 9.4.6
  - Elasticsearch >= 9.5.0 <= 9.5.3
published: '2026-10-06'
updated: '2026-10-06'
sourceUpdated: '2026-10-06T20:17:13.930'
source: NVD
sourceUrl: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-103007'
references:
  - url: >-
      https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elasticsearch-8-19-22-9-4-7-9-5-4-security-update-esa-2026-197/390871
    label: security@elastic.co
tags:
  - nvd
  - cve.org
ssvc:
  exploitation: none
  automatable: 'no'
  technicalImpact: total
  timestamp: '2026-10-06T19:52:50.265493Z'
ingestedAt: '2026-10-06T20:16:42.473Z'
---

## Overview

Incorrect Authorization (CWE-863) in Elasticsearch can lead to Privilege Escalation via a delegated administrative privilege whose scope is not fully enforced during authorization checks. Elasticsearch contains an incorrect authorization weakness in a configurable, non-default privilege that lets an administrator delegate limited role-management capability to another user, scoped to specific indices. The authorization check that enforces this scoping does not correctly account for a role-definition setting that can expand the matched index set. A user holding this delegated privilege with a broadly-scoped index pattern can exploit this inconsistency by updating their own assigned role to gain access to indices that should remain restricted, including internal security data. This can enable further escalation up to full administrative control of the cluster.

## Remediation

Refer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.