CVE-2024-23444 | Elasticsearch elasticsearch-certutil csr fails to encrypt private key

It was discovered by Elastic engineering that when elasticsearch-certutil CLI tool is used with the csr option in order to create a new Certificate Signing Requests, the associated private key that is generated is stored on disk unencrypted even if the --pass parameter is passed in the command invocation.

Published: 2024-07-31 Last update: 2026-06-17 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2024-23444 is rated Low Risk (22/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.21%). Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2024-23444

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-06-15 1.48% 0.21% -1.28%
2 2026-05-13 1.43% 1.48% +0.06%
3 2026-04-21 — 1.43% —

Full EPSS history (24 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2024-23444

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
4.9 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:H)
They need powerful rights—admin, root, or similar—before this pays off.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 1.2 3.6 [email protected]
7.5 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 3.9 3.6 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2024-23444

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2024-23444

GHSA-5v8f-xx9m-wj44 · Severity: medium · Ecosystem: maven — Elasticsearch stores private key on disk unencrypted

OS Trackers for CVE-2024-23444

vendor priority summary link
ubuntu medium CVE-2024-23444 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (elasticsearch), 10 status rows across 10 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 8, needs-triage 2. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2024-23444

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2024-23444

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
elastic elasticsearch >= 7.0.0, < 7.17.23 cpe:2.3:a:elastic:elasticsearch:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
elastic elasticsearch >= 8.0.0, < 8.13.0 cpe:2.3:a:elastic:elasticsearch:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2024-23444

cvelogic Threat Intelligence