CVE-2025-20226
📋 TL;DR
This vulnerability allows low-privileged Splunk users to bypass SPL safeguards for risky commands by tricking higher-privileged users into executing malicious saved searches. It affects Splunk Enterprise versions below 9.4.1, 9.3.3, 9.2.5, and 9.1.8, and Splunk Cloud Platform versions below specific builds. Exploitation requires social engineering to phish authenticated users.
💻 Affected Systems
- Splunk Enterprise
- Splunk Cloud Platform
📦 What is this software?
Splunk by Splunk
Splunk by Splunk
Splunk by Splunk
Splunk by Splunk
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Privilege escalation leading to unauthorized execution of risky SPL commands, potentially resulting in data exfiltration, system compromise, or denial of service.
Likely Case
Limited privilege escalation allowing execution of commands beyond user's normal permissions, but requiring successful phishing of a higher-privileged user.
If Mitigated
Minimal impact if proper access controls, user awareness training, and monitoring are in place to prevent successful phishing attempts.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires social engineering to trick authenticated users into initiating malicious requests.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: Splunk Enterprise: 9.4.1, 9.3.3, 9.2.5, 9.1.8. Splunk Cloud Platform: 9.3.2408.107, 9.2.2406.111, 9.1.2308.214.
Vendor Advisory: https://advisory.splunk.com/advisories/SVD-2025-0305
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Backup your Splunk configuration and data. 2. Download appropriate patched version from Splunk website. 3. Follow Splunk upgrade documentation for your deployment type. 4. Restart Splunk services after upgrade.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Restrict access to saved searches
allLimit creation and sharing of saved searches to trusted users only.
Implement phishing awareness training
allEducate users about not clicking suspicious links or initiating unknown requests.
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement strict access controls to limit low-privileged user access to saved search functionality.
- Enable detailed auditing of saved search execution and monitor for unusual patterns.
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check Splunk version via web interface (Settings > Server Info) or CLI command.Check Version:
On Splunk server: $SPLUNK_HOME/bin/splunk versionVerify Fix Applied:
Confirm version is at or above patched versions listed in advisory.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unusual saved search executions by low-privileged users
- Risky command execution patterns in audit logs
Network Indicators:
- Unusual requests to /services/streams/search endpoint
SIEM Query:
index=_audit action=search savedsearch_name=* | search user=* NOT (role=admin OR role=power)