Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
CVE-2019-7615 affects Elastic APM agent for Ruby before 2.9.0. If a custom trusted APM server CA was configured, the agent did not properly verify the server certificate. An attacker positioned between the application and APM server could impersonate the server and intercept or alter telemetry traffic.
Executive priority
Treat as a targeted, configuration-dependent security fix. Prioritize upgrades where Ruby services send sensitive telemetry over untrusted or shared networks, or where custom CA configuration is used.
Technical view
The issue is a CWE-295 certificate validation flaw in Elastic APM agent for Ruby versions before 2.9.0. It occurs when using the `server_ca_cert` setting: the agent fails to properly validate the APM server certificate, enabling a man-in-the-middle scenario against agent-to-server TLS communication.
Likely exposure
Exposure is limited to Ruby applications using Elastic APM agent versions before 2.9.0, especially deployments configured with `server_ca_cert`. Risk depends on network positioning and whether an attacker can intercept traffic between the Ruby agent and APM server.
Exploitation context
The provided sources do not report active exploitation, and the CVE is not listed as KEV. Exploitation would require a man-in-the-middle position against the agent’s connection to the APM server and the vulnerable certificate-validation configuration.
Researcher notes
Evidence is limited to the CVE description and Elastic reference. No CVSS score, detailed advisory text, exploit evidence, or workaround details were provided in the source bundle. The affected product and fixed version boundary are clear.
Mitigation direction
- Upgrade Elastic APM agent for Ruby to version 2.9.0 or later.
- Review Elastic security guidance for any environment-specific recommendations.
- Confirm APM server TLS configuration uses valid, trusted certificates.
- Limit network paths where agents can communicate with APM servers.
Validation and detection
- Inventory Ruby applications using Elastic APM agent.
- Check installed agent versions for releases before 2.9.0.
- Identify configurations using the `server_ca_cert` setting.
- Verify agents successfully connect using expected APM server certificates.
- Review network controls between Ruby applications and APM servers.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CWE-295: Exact CWE lookup
Use the exact CWE identifier as the starting point before reviewing related ATT&CK behavior. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2019-7615 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- Unknown
- CVSS
- Not scored
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
CVSS and timeline data
No CVSS vectors or timeline events were available in the normalized CVE source material.
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://www.elastic.co/community/security/CVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.
Improper Certificate Validation
Improper Certificate Validation represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.