diff --git a/.secrets.baseline b/.secrets.baseline
index 8085ebd9..53021726 100644
--- a/.secrets.baseline
+++ b/.secrets.baseline
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
     "files": "go.sum|^.secrets.baseline$",
     "lines": null
   },
-  "generated_at": "2025-10-11T11:57:05Z",
+  "generated_at": "2025-10-15T14:30:02Z",
   "plugins_used": [
     {
       "name": "AWSKeyDetector"
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@
         "hashed_secret": "8c7c51db5075ebd0369c51e9f14737d9b4c1c21d",
         "is_secret": false,
         "is_verified": false,
-        "line_number": 413,
+        "line_number": 415,
         "type": "Base64 High Entropy String",
         "verified_result": null
       }
diff --git a/solutions/fully-configurable/main.tf b/solutions/fully-configurable/main.tf
index 0a63f7e8..c51c694a 100644
--- a/solutions/fully-configurable/main.tf
+++ b/solutions/fully-configurable/main.tf
@@ -464,15 +464,20 @@ locals {
   code_engine_project_id    = var.existing_code_engine_project_id != null ? var.existing_code_engine_project_id : null
   code_engine_project_name  = local.code_engine_project_id != null ? null : (var.prefix != null && var.prefix != "") ? "${var.prefix}-${var.kibana_code_engine_new_project_name}" : var.kibana_code_engine_new_project_name
   code_engine_app_name      = (var.prefix != null && var.prefix != "") ? "${var.prefix}-${var.kibana_code_engine_new_app_name}" : var.kibana_code_engine_new_app_name
-  kibana_version            = var.enable_kibana_dashboard ? jsondecode(data.http.es_metadata[0].response_body).version.number : null
+  kibana_version            = var.enable_kibana_dashboard ? try(data.external.es_metadata[0].result.version_number, null) : null
   kibana_system_password    = var.enable_kibana_dashboard ? startswith(random_password.kibana_system_password[0].result, "-") ? "J${substr(random_password.kibana_system_password[0].result, 1, -1)}" : startswith(random_password.kibana_system_password[0].result, "_") ? "K${substr(random_password.kibana_system_password[0].result, 1, -1)}" : random_password.kibana_system_password[0].result : null
   kibana_app_login_password = var.enable_kibana_dashboard ? startswith(random_password.kibana_app_login_password[0].result, "-") ? "J${substr(random_password.kibana_app_login_password[0].result, 1, -1)}" : startswith(random_password.kibana_app_login_password[0].result, "_") ? "K${substr(random_password.kibana_app_login_password[0].result, 1, -1)}" : random_password.kibana_app_login_password[0].result : null
 }
 
-data "http" "es_metadata" {
-  count       = var.enable_kibana_dashboard ? 1 : 0
-  url         = "https://${local.elasticsearch_username}:${local.admin_pass}@${local.elasticsearch_hostname}:${local.elasticsearch_port}"
-  ca_cert_pem = base64decode(local.elasticsearch_cert)
+data "external" "es_metadata" {
+  count   = var.enable_kibana_dashboard ? 1 : 0
+  program = ["bash", "${path.module}/scripts/es_metadata.sh"]
+  query = {
+    url         = "https://${local.elasticsearch_hostname}:${local.elasticsearch_port}"
+    username    = local.elasticsearch_username
+    password    = local.admin_pass
+    ca_cert_b64 = local.elasticsearch_cert
+  }
 }
 
 module "code_engine_kibana" {
diff --git a/solutions/fully-configurable/scripts/es_metadata.sh b/solutions/fully-configurable/scripts/es_metadata.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..1f9bac6e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/solutions/fully-configurable/scripts/es_metadata.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+set -euo pipefail
+
+# Read JSON from stdin
+INPUT_JSON="$(cat)"
+
+# Extract fields using jq
+URL="$(echo "$INPUT_JSON" | jq -r '.url')"
+USERNAME="$(echo "$INPUT_JSON" | jq -r '.username')"
+PASSWORD="$(echo "$INPUT_JSON" | jq -r '.password')" # pragma: allowlist secret
+CA_CERT_B64="$(echo "$INPUT_JSON" | jq -r '.ca_cert_b64')"
+
+# Create a temporary directory for the CA cert
+TMPDIR="$(mktemp -d)"
+trap 'rm -rf "$TMPDIR"' EXIT
+
+CA_PEM="$TMPDIR/ca.pem"
+# Decode the base64 CA cert to a PEM file
+echo "$CA_CERT_B64" | base64 -d > "$CA_PEM"
+
+# Build Basic Auth header value
+BASIC_AUTH="$(printf '%s:%s' "$USERNAME" "$PASSWORD" | base64)" # pragma: allowlist secret
+
+# Fetch ES root endpoint, which returns cluster metadata including version
+# -s silent, -S show errors, --fail for HTTP errors
+# --cacert to trust the provided CA
+RESP="$(curl -sS --fail \
+  -H "Authorization: Basic $BASIC_AUTH" \
+  --cacert "$CA_PEM" \
+  "$URL")"
+
+# Parse version.number using jq
+VERSION_NUMBER="$(echo "$RESP" | jq -r '.version.number // empty')"
+
+# The external data source expects a flat JSON object on stdout.
+# If version_number is empty, still return valid JSON but with null.
+if [[ -z "$VERSION_NUMBER" ]]; then
+  echo '{"version_number":null}'
+else
+  echo "{\"version_number\":\"$VERSION_NUMBER\"}"
+fi
diff --git a/solutions/fully-configurable/version.tf b/solutions/fully-configurable/version.tf
index 5ceb6484..26b92023 100644
--- a/solutions/fully-configurable/version.tf
+++ b/solutions/fully-configurable/version.tf
@@ -14,9 +14,9 @@ terraform {
       source  = "hashicorp/random"
       version = "3.7.2"
     }
-    http = {
-      source  = "hashicorp/http"
-      version = "3.5.0"
+    external = {
+      source  = "hashicorp/external"
+      version = "~> 2.3"
     }
   }
 }
diff --git a/tests/pr_test.go b/tests/pr_test.go
index 474972b7..a0bafe32 100644
--- a/tests/pr_test.go
+++ b/tests/pr_test.go
@@ -69,6 +69,7 @@ func TestRunFullyConfigurableSolutionSchematics(t *testing.T) {
 		TarIncludePatterns: []string{
 			"*.tf",
 			fmt.Sprintf("%s/*.tf", fullyConfigurableSolutionTerraformDir),
+			fmt.Sprintf("%s/scripts/*.sh", fullyConfigurableSolutionTerraformDir),
 			fmt.Sprintf("%s/*.sh", "scripts"),
 		},
 		TemplateFolder:         fullyConfigurableSolutionTerraformDir,
@@ -201,6 +202,7 @@ func TestRunSecurityEnforcedSolutionSchematics(t *testing.T) {
 			"*.tf",
 			fmt.Sprintf("%s/*.tf", fullyConfigurableSolutionTerraformDir),
 			fmt.Sprintf("%s/*.tf", securityEnforcedSolutionTerraformDir),
+			fmt.Sprintf("%s/scripts/*.sh", fullyConfigurableSolutionTerraformDir),
 			fmt.Sprintf("%s/*.sh", "scripts"),
 		},
 		TemplateFolder:         securityEnforcedSolutionTerraformDir,