# Vulnerability Discovery

> Guides for finding unauth access and exposed indices in Elasticsearch

- **URL:** https://hackindex.io/services/elasticsearch/vulnerability-discovery
- **Service:** [Elasticsearch](https://hackindex.io/services/elasticsearch.md)
- **Tags:** vulns, misconfig, risk
- **Published:** 2026-03-26
- **Updated:** 2026-03-29

Elasticsearch vulnerability discovery focuses on identifying misconfigurations and exposed features that turn a search engine into an open door. The most common finding is unauthenticated access: clusters running without X-Pack Security or Search Guard accept any request.

Beyond open access, check for dangerous scripting settings (dynamic scripting enabled, sandbox disabled), exposed API endpoints like `_nodes` and `_cluster`, and snapshot repositories writable from untrusted networks.

These checks establish what is exploitable before committing to specific attack paths.

## Guides

- [Elasticsearch Unauthenticated Access and Data Exposure](https://hackindex.io/services/elasticsearch/vulnerability-discovery/unauthenticated-access-and-data-exposure.md)