CVE-2022-32152 – Splunk Enterprise and Splunk Cloud Platform ver... (How to Fix)

Q: What is the severity of CVE-2022-32152?

CVE-2022-32152 has a CVSS score of 8.1 (HIGH). Splunk Enterprise and Splunk Cloud Platform versions before 9.0 and 8.2.2203 respectively did not validate TLS certificates during Splunk-to-Splunk communications by default. This allows attackers with administrator credentials to add malicious peers or intercept communications between misconfigured nodes. Organizations running affected Splunk deployments are vulnerable to man-in-the-middle attacks.

📋 TL;DR

Splunk Enterprise and Splunk Cloud Platform versions before 9.0 and 8.2.2203 respectively did not validate TLS certificates during Splunk-to-Splunk communications by default. This allows attackers with administrator credentials to add malicious peers or intercept communications between misconfigured nodes. Organizations running affected Splunk deployments are vulnerable to man-in-the-middle attacks.

💻 Affected Systems

Products:

Splunk Enterprise
Splunk Cloud Platform

Versions: Splunk Enterprise versions before 9.0, Splunk Cloud Platform versions before 8.2.2203

Operating Systems: All supported platforms

Default Config Vulnerable: ⚠️ Yes

Notes: Only affects Splunk-to-Splunk communications. Properly configured systems with valid certificates are not vulnerable.

📦 What is this software?

Splunk by Splunk

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Splunk Cloud Platform by Splunk

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⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact

🔴

Worst Case

Attackers intercept and manipulate all Splunk-to-Splunk communications, potentially stealing sensitive log data, injecting false data, or gaining unauthorized access to connected systems.

🟠

Likely Case

Man-in-the-middle attacks allowing data interception between Splunk instances, potentially exposing sensitive log information and configuration data.

🟢

If Mitigated

Proper certificate validation prevents unauthorized peer connections and ensures encrypted communications between trusted Splunk instances.

🌐 Internet-Facing: MEDIUM - While Splunk-to-Splunk communications are typically internal, internet-facing management interfaces could be targeted.

🏢 Internal Only: HIGH - Most exploitation would occur within internal networks where attackers have gained initial access or administrator credentials.

🎯 Exploit Status

Public PoC: ✅ No

Weaponized: LIKELY

Unauthenticated Exploit: ✅ No

Complexity: MEDIUM

Requires administrator credentials to add malicious peers or access to misconfigured nodes. Certificate validation bypass is well-understood attack vector.

🛠️ Fix & Mitigation

✅ Official Fix

Patch Version: Splunk Enterprise 9.0, Splunk Cloud Platform 8.2.2203

Vendor Advisory: https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/9.0.0/Security/Updates

Restart Required: Yes

Instructions:

1. Upgrade Splunk Enterprise to version 9.0 or later. 2. Upgrade Splunk Cloud Platform to version 8.2.2203 or later. 3. Enable TLS host name validation using instructions at: https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/9.0.0/Security/EnableTLSCertHostnameValidation

🔧 Temporary Workarounds

Enable TLS Certificate Validation

all

Manually enable TLS certificate validation for Splunk-to-Splunk communications

Edit server.conf: [sslConfig] sslVerifyServerCert = true
Restart Splunk services

Restrict Peer Configuration

all

Limit who can configure Splunk peers and audit all existing peer configurations

Review and remove unauthorized peers from server.conf
Implement strict access controls for Splunk administration

🧯 If You Can't Patch

Enable TLS certificate validation in server.conf configuration
Implement network segmentation to isolate Splunk communications and monitor for unauthorized peer connections

🔍 How to Verify

Check if Vulnerable:

Check Splunk version and verify sslVerifyServerCert setting in server.conf is not set to true

Check Version:

splunk version

Verify Fix Applied:

Confirm version is 9.0+ (Enterprise) or 8.2.2203+ (Cloud) and sslVerifyServerCert = true in server.conf

📡 Detection & Monitoring

Log Indicators:

Unauthorized peer connection attempts
SSL/TLS handshake failures in Splunk logs
Configuration changes to server.conf

Network Indicators:

Unencrypted or improperly encrypted Splunk-to-Splunk traffic
Connections to unauthorized IP addresses on Splunk ports (8089, 9997)

SIEM Query:

index=_internal source=*splunkd.log (ssl OR tls OR certificate) (fail* OR error OR warning) OR peer_connection

📊 Metadata

CVE ID: CVE-2022-32152

CVSS v3 Score: 8.1 (HIGH)

CVSS Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

CWE: CWE-295

Published: June 15, 2022

Last Updated: November 21, 2024

🔗 References

https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/9.0.0/Security/EnableTLSCertHostnameValidation Mitigation,Vendor Advisory
https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/9.0.0/Security/Updates Release Notes,Vendor Advisory
https://research.splunk.com/application/splunk_digital_certificates_infrastructure_version/ Mitigation,Vendor Advisory
https://research.splunk.com/application/splunk_digital_certificates_lack_of_encryption/ Mitigation,Vendor Advisory
https://research.splunk.com/application/splunk_protocol_impersonation_weak_encryption_selfsigned/ Mitigation,Vendor Advisory
https://research.splunk.com/network/splunk_identified_ssl_tls_certificates/ Mitigation,Vendor Advisory
https://www.splunk.com/en_us/product-security/announcements/svd-2022-0602.html Vendor Advisory
https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/9.0.0/Security/EnableTLSCertHostnameValidation Mitigation,Vendor Advisory
https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/9.0.0/Security/Updates Release Notes,Vendor Advisory
https://research.splunk.com/application/splunk_digital_certificates_infrastructure_version/ Mitigation,Vendor Advisory
https://research.splunk.com/application/splunk_digital_certificates_lack_of_encryption/ Mitigation,Vendor Advisory
https://research.splunk.com/application/splunk_protocol_impersonation_weak_encryption_selfsigned/ Mitigation,Vendor Advisory
https://research.splunk.com/network/splunk_identified_ssl_tls_certificates/ Mitigation,Vendor Advisory
https://www.splunk.com/en_us/product-security/announcements/svd-2022-0602.html Vendor Advisory

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