Analysis Summary

A high-severity Google Chrome security flaw affects a headless Chromium version that comes included with Kibana and is only utilized for reporting functions, which the vendor has patched in a security update.

Google Chrome revealed CVE-2023-7024 on December 21, 2023. It was explained as a heap buffer overflow in WebRTC in Google Chrome versions earlier than 120.0.6099.129 that might potentially allow a remote attacker to take advantage of heap corruption through a specially created HTML page.

Only CentOS, Debian, and RHEL host operating systems with disabled Chromium sandbox are affected by this issue when it comes to on-premises Kibana deployments. When the manual suggests explicitly disabling the Chromium sandbox, it impacts Kibana instances that are utilizing the Kibana Docker image. Seccomp-bpf stops further exploitation, like container escape.

The RCE is restricted within the Kibana Docker container, yet this problem affects Kibana instances running on Elastic Cloud, Elastic Cloud Enterprise (ECE), and Elastic Cloud on Kubernetes (ECK). Seccomp-bpf and AppArmor profiles stop further exploitation, including container escape.

Users are recommended to update to version 7.17.18 or 8.12.1 as soon as possible. If you are unable to upgrade, you can entirely turn off Kibana reporting by adjusting the following value in the kibana.yml file: xpack.reporting.enabled: false

Impact

• Buffer Overflow
• Unauthorized Access

Indicators of Compromise

CVE

• CVE-2023-7024

Remediation

• Refer to Kibana Security Update for patch, upgrade, or suggested workaround information.
• Organizations must test their assets for the vulnerability mentioned above and apply the available security patch or mitigation steps as soon as possible.
• Implement multi-factor authentication to add an extra layer of security to login processes.
• Regularly monitor network activity for any unusual behavior, as this may indicate that a cyberattack is underway.
• Organizations must stay vigilant and follow best practices for cybersecurity to protect their systems and data from potential threats. This includes regularly updating software and implementing strong access controls and monitoring tools.
• Develop a comprehensive incident response plan to respond effectively in case of a security breach or data leakage.
• Maintain regular backups of critical data and systems to ensure data recovery in case of a security incident.
• Adhere to security best practices, including the principle of least privilege, and ensure that users and applications have only the necessary permissions.
• Establish a robust patch management process to ensure that security patches are evaluated, tested, and applied promptly.
• Conduct security audits and assessments to evaluate the overall security posture of your systems and networks.
• Implement network segmentation to contain and isolate potential threats to limit their impact on critical systems.