Daily Threat Intel by CyberDudeBivash
Zero-days, exploit breakdowns, IOCs, detection rules & mitigation playbooks.

Follow on LinkedInApps & Security Tools

CyberDudeBivash Vulnerability Deep-Dive (Enterprise-Grade)

New Kibana 0-Day (CVE-2025-68385): Bypassing XSS Defenses via Weaponized Vega Charts

Author: CyberDudeBivash

Powered by: CyberDudeBivash

Official: cyberdudebivash.com | cyberbivash.blogspot.com

Audience: SOC, Blue Teams, Elastic admins, platform engineers, and CISOs who need a practical response plan for Kibana XSS risk in production.

Affiliate Disclosure

Some links in this post are affiliate links. If you purchase through them, CyberDudeBivash may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. We only recommend tools and training that align with real security outcomes.

Partner Picks 

• DevSecOps + Cloud + SOC training for teams: Edureka
• Endpoint protection (reduce lateral impact after session abuse): Kaspersky
• Lab gear, adapters, secure storage, test devices: AliExpress
• Enterprise sourcing for infrastructure components: Alibaba

TL;DR (Executive Summary)

• CVE-2025-68385 is a Kibana vulnerability affecting Vega visualizations that enables cross-site scripting (XSS) by bypassing a previous Vega XSS mitigation.
• Elastic describes it as: an authenticated user can embed malicious script content that is served to web browsers (stored XSS behavior in practice).
• Affected: 7.x (all), 8.0.0–8.19.8, 9.0.0–9.1.8, 9.2.0–9.2.2.
• Fixed: 8.19.9, 9.1.9, 9.2.3.
• Emergency mitigation (if you cannot upgrade): disable Vega with vis_type_vega.enabled: false.
• Severity: CVSS 7.2 (High) in Elastic CNA scoring.

CyberDudeBivash stance: Treat Kibana as a privileged console. Any XSS in Kibana is an access-multiplier. Patch quickly or disable Vega now.

Table of Contents

1. What CVE-2025-68385 is
2. Attack chain: weaponized Vega to browser execution
3. Impact and business risk
4. Affected versions and patching
5. Exposure checklist: are you actually at risk?
6. IOC pack (telemetry-first)
7. Detection engineering: rules, queries, signals
8. Threat hunting: finding weaponized Vega saved objects
9. Defensive playbooks: SOC runbook + 30–60–90 plan
10. Hardening guidance for Kibana + Elastic Stack
11. Executive comms: what to tell leadership
12. CyberDudeBivash services
13. FAQ
14. References
15. Hashtags

1) What CVE-2025-68385 is

CVE-2025-68385 is an improper input neutralization vulnerability (CWE-79) in Kibana’s Vega visualization pathway. In plain language: a user who can authenticate to Kibana can embed malicious script payloads into content that is later rendered in other users’ browsers, resulting in cross-site scripting (XSS). The advisory highlights that the exploit path works by bypassing a previous Vega XSS mitigation.

The dangerous part is not that “Kibana has XSS.” The dangerous part is where Kibana sits in enterprises: it is commonly used for SOC dashboards, incident response, threat hunting, reliability observability, and executive reporting. That makes Kibana a privileged surface. XSS here is not cosmetic; it can become session abuse, forced actions, and data exposure.

2) Attack chain: weaponized Vega to browser execution

1. Initial access: attacker has a Kibana-authenticated account (legitimate user, compromised credentials, or a service account exposed through weak SSO controls).
2. Payload planting: attacker creates or edits a Vega visualization and embeds malicious content crafted to bypass prior sanitization.
3. Persistence: visualization is saved as a saved object and placed into dashboards, shared spaces, or copied via exports/imports.
4. Trigger: a victim loads a dashboard containing the visualization; payload executes in the Kibana origin context.
5. Post-execution outcomes: session theft, forced Kibana actions, deceptive dashboards, data visibility manipulation, and pivoting via Kibana APIs depending on the victim role.

CyberDudeBivash reality check: the attacker does not need external malware to cause damage. A “weaponized chart” can become a console-layer compromise of analysts and admins.

3) Impact and business risk

• Session hijack / identity misuse: XSS can execute as the user in the browser context and abuse their authenticated session.
• Data exposure: dashboards may contain internal hostnames, alerts, incident narratives, customer telemetry, and sensitive logs.
• Monitoring integrity loss: attacker can deceive dashboards, suppress key visual signals, or insert false comfort during incidents.
• Operational disruption: forced actions inside Kibana can break workflows, cause alert fatigue, or degrade SOC confidence.
• Compliance and governance risk: if Kibana output is used as audit evidence, integrity becomes a compliance issue.

4) Affected versions and patching guidance

Affected versions:

• 7.x: all versions
• 8.x: 8.0.0 through 8.19.8
• 9.x: 9.0.0 through 9.1.8 and 9.2.0 through 9.2.2

Fixed versions: 8.19.9, 9.1.9, 9.2.3

Emergency mitigation (if you cannot upgrade): Set vis_type_vega.enabled: false in kibana.yml (self-hosted) or Kibana user settings (Elastic Cloud). This disables all Vega charts.

For Elastic Cloud Serverless, Elastic indicates the vulnerability was remediated before public disclosure due to continuous deployment. Still, confirm your deployment posture and feature usage.

5) Exposure checklist: are you actually at risk?

Answer these with evidence, not guesses:

• Is Vega enabled? If yes, treat risk as active until patched or disabled.
• Who can create/edit visualizations? If “many users,” your attack surface is broad.
• Is Kibana internet-exposed? If yes, assume credential attacks are constant and this becomes a fast exploitation path after account compromise.
• Do analysts/admins use Kibana daily? If yes, XSS becomes high impact.
• Do you log saved object operations? If no, you have weak detection/forensics for planted payloads.

6) IOC pack (telemetry-first, SOC-ready)

This is a vulnerability-driven risk. There is no guaranteed “campaign IOC” (domains/hashes) unless an actor is observed exploiting it. For CVE-2025-68385, the most actionable IOC set is: content indicators (suspicious strings in Vega specs) and behavior indicators (unexpected creation/edit patterns).

6.1 Kibana audit log rule (high value if audit logging is enabled)

Title: Suspicious Vega visualization creation/modification (CVE-2025-68385 hunting)

Data source:
  Kibana audit logs (saved_objects / visualization / dashboard events)
  Optional: reverse proxy/WAF logs for write endpoints

Alert when (ALL of the following recommended):
  1) action indicates saved object create OR update
  2) object type includes visualization (prioritize Vega)
  3) user role is not expected to create visualizations (viewer/analyst-only roles)
  4) change payload contains suspicious XSS primitives (case-insensitive):
     - "<script"
     - "javascript:"
     - "onerror="
     - "onload="
     - "data:text/html"
     - "data:application/xhtml+xml"
     - "eval("
     - "Function("
     - "document.cookie"
     - "localStorage"
     - "sessionStorage"
     - "fetch("
     - "XMLHttpRequest"
     - "navigator.sendBeacon"

Severity:
  High (because Kibana is a privileged console)

Triage steps:
  A) Identify user, source IP, user agent, auth method (SSO/local)
  B) Pull the saved object payload (export or API retrieval)
  C) Find dashboards/spaces where the visualization is embedded
  D) Identify who viewed the dashboard after the change
  E) If malicious content confirmed: disable Vega immediately, invalidate sessions, rotate credentials if required

6.2 Behavior indicators to hunt (even without explicit payload strings)

• Unexpected visualization edits outside business hours.
• Non-admin users creating Vega visualizations for the first time.
• Spikes in saved object updates (visualizations/dashboards) correlated with new user sessions.
• Dashboards that suddenly “behave weirdly” according to analysts (unexpected popups, redirects, auto-refresh loops, unexpected requests).

7) Detection engineering: rules, queries, and signals

Your best wins come from: (1) saved object change monitoring, (2) strict RBAC, (3) gateway controls on write endpoints, (4) CSP/browser telemetry where feasible.

7.1 Elastic (KQL) concept query: suspicious strings in Kibana audit logs

// Adjust field names to your audit log schema
event.dataset: "kibana.audit" and
(message:("*vega*" or "*vis_type_vega*") and
 (message:("*<script*" or "*javascript:*" or "*onerror=*" or "*onload=*" or "*data:text/html*" or "*eval(*" or "*Function(*" or "*document.cookie*" or "*sendBeacon*")))

7.2 Splunk SPL concept query (audit logs or proxy logs)

index=kibana_audit (vega OR vis_type_vega OR visualization)
("<script" OR "javascript:" OR "onerror=" OR "onload=" OR "data:text/html" OR "eval(" OR "Function(" OR "document.cookie" OR "sendBeacon")
| stats count min(_time) as firstSeen max(_time) as lastSeen values(user) values(src_ip) values(action) values(object_type) by host
| sort -count

7.3 Reverse proxy / WAF detection idea (protect write paths)

If Kibana is behind NGINX/Envoy/WAF, create a “high-signal guardrail” rule: alert (and optionally block) requests that modify saved objects and contain obvious XSS primitives. This is not perfect (bypasses exist), but it is an effective emergency net while patching.

7.4 Endpoint/browser telemetry signals (for high-security SOCs)

• Browser security telemetry showing script execution attempts on Kibana origin.
• CSP violation reports (if configured) indicating blocked inline scripts or suspicious sources.
• Unusual outbound calls from analyst browsers immediately after loading Kibana dashboards.

7.5 Detection note on “PR:N” in CNA scoring

Elastic’s CVSS vector lists PR:N/UI:N with scope changed. In operational terms, do not debate the scoring in meetings. Focus on control: patch, disable Vega if needed, and instrument visibility.

8) Threat hunting: finding weaponized Vega saved objects

The objective is simple: identify whether anyone has already planted a malicious Vega visualization. Your hunting approach should be: (1) identify Vega visualizations, (2) review who modified them and when, (3) scan their JSON for suspicious primitives, (4) map dashboards that embed them, (5) identify viewers after the change window.

8.1 Practical checklist

• Export or list saved objects (visualizations) and filter for Vega usage.
• Review last-modified metadata and author identity.
• Scan visualization payloads for suspicious strings (see 6.1 list).
• Map dashboards/spaces where the visualization appears.
• Correlate view access logs (or SSO logs) to identify who loaded the dashboard.

8.2 SOC-safe string scan examples (defensive use only)

// Use in a controlled export folder containing saved object JSON exports
// Scan for suspicious tokens commonly used in XSS payloads
grep -Rni -- "vis_type_vega\|\"vega\"\|<script\|javascript:\|onerror=\|onload=\|data:text/html\|eval(\|Function(\|document.cookie\|sendBeacon" ./exported_saved_objects/

CyberDudeBivash hunting discipline: Treat any unexpected Vega visualization edits as suspicious until proven benign, especially if created by accounts that historically do not build dashboards.

9) Defensive playbooks: SOC runbook + 30–60–90 plan

9.1 SOC triage runbook (when you detect suspicious Vega activity)

1. Confirm exposure: verify Kibana version is within affected ranges and whether Vega is enabled.
2. Contain immediately: if patch cannot be applied now, disable Vega (vis_type_vega.enabled: false) as an emergency control.
3. Preserve evidence: export saved object(s), capture audit logs, proxy logs, and SSO logs around the change window.
4. Blast-radius mapping: identify dashboards/spaces that embed the visualization, then identify viewers after modification time.
5. Session response: invalidate sessions for impacted users, force re-authentication, and consider credential resets for the author account if compromise is suspected.
6. Eradication: remove or replace malicious visualizations; validate there are no clones in other spaces.
7. Recovery: upgrade to fixed versions, re-enable Vega only after patch and after a saved objects integrity sweep.
8. Lessons learned: tighten RBAC, enable audit logging, add approval workflow for “shared dashboards,” and implement change alerts.

9.2 30–60–90 day plan

10) Hardening guidance for Kibana + Elastic Stack

• Patch SLAs for privileged consoles: treat Kibana like an admin plane, not a “reporting tool.”
• Least privilege by default: most users should not be able to create or edit Vega visualizations.
• Spaces separation: isolate executive dashboards and SOC dashboards into restricted spaces with tight write controls.
• Network segmentation: restrict Kibana administration access behind VPN/Zero Trust; avoid internet exposure.
• Audit logging: enable and centralize Kibana audit logs; alert on saved object writes.
• Change control for shared dashboards: treat shared dashboards like production artifacts, not personal workspace assets.
• Incident muscle memory: document feature kill-switches (like Vega disable) and rehearse fast response.

CyberDudeBivash principle: A console XSS is not a web bug. It is an access bug.

11) Executive comms: what to tell leadership

Use this framing for leadership updates:

• What happened: Kibana has a high-severity XSS issue in Vega visualizations that can allow malicious content to execute in users’ browsers.
• Why it matters: Kibana is used by SOC and operations; compromise can expose sensitive telemetry and enable session abuse.
• What we’re doing: patching to fixed versions immediately; disabling Vega as an emergency mitigation if needed; monitoring saved object changes.
• What we need: fast change window approval, temporary restrictions on dashboard editing, and verification of audit logging coverage.

12) CyberDudeBivash Enterprise Services

If Kibana is part of your SOC, observability, or incident response workflows, CyberDudeBivash can help you harden it as a privileged platform:

• Elastic Stack security assessment (Kibana hardening, RBAC, audit logging, proxy controls)
• Detection engineering (KQL/Splunk rules, saved object integrity monitoring)
• DevSecOps controls for observability pipelines
• Enterprise incident response playbooks for console-layer attacks (XSS/session abuse)

Apps & Products hub: https://www.cyberdudebivash.com/apps-products/
Consulting contact: https://www.cyberdudebivash.com/contact

13) FAQ

Q1: If Kibana is internal-only, is this low risk?
Internal-only reduces exposure but does not eliminate risk. XSS is most dangerous when it targets privileged users inside the console.

Q2: What is the fastest safe mitigation?
Upgrade to fixed versions (8.19.9 / 9.1.9 / 9.2.3). If you cannot upgrade immediately, disable Vega using vis_type_vega.enabled: false.

Q3: Do we need to wipe all dashboards?
Not automatically. First: patch/disable Vega, then hunt for suspicious Vega objects and any abnormal edits. Remove malicious items if found.

Q4: Why focus so much on audit logs?
Because planted payloads are saved-object problems. If you cannot see who changed what and when, you are blind to persistence inside Kibana.

References

• Elastic Security Advisory (ESA-2025-34) – CVE-2025-68385
• NVD – CVE-2025-68385
• Red Hat – CVE-2025-68385
• GitHub Advisory – GHSA-x89f-99hf-gmr7

#CyberDudeBivash #Kibana #ElasticStack #CVE202568385 #XSS #VegaCharts #SOC #ThreatDetection #DetectionEngineering #VulnerabilityManagement #DevSecOps #SecurityOperations #ZeroTrust