Use of Hard-coded Cryptographic Key in the PostgreSQL Sidecar Service in Splunk Enterprise
Summary
| CVE | CVE-2026-76298 |
|---|---|
| State | PUBLISHED |
| Assigner | cisco |
| Source Priority | CVE Program / NVD first with legacy fallback |
| Published | 2026-10-21 23:17:27 UTC |
| Updated | 2026-10-21 23:17:27 UTC |
| Description | In Splunk Enterprise versions below 10.4.4 and 10.2.8, a user who does not hold the "admin" or "power" Splunk roles could derive the PostgreSQL sidecar database superuser password and run arbitrary operating system commands as the user account running Splunk Enterprise on search head cluster members. The vulnerability is possible because the PostgreSQL sidecar service derives a privileged database password from the search head cluster identifier that appears in search job logs. For more information see About configuring role-based user access (https://help.splunk.com/en/splunk-enterprise/administer/manage-users-and-security/10.2/manage-splunk-platform-users-and-roles/about-configuring-role-based-user-access), server.conf (https://help.splunk.com/en/splunk-enterprise/administer/admin-manual/10.2/configuration-file-reference/10.2.0-configuration-file-reference/server.conf), and Sidecar configuration settings (https://help.splunk.com/en/splunk-enterprise/administer/admin-manual/10.4/splunk-sidecars/sidecar-configuration-settings) in the Splunk documentation. |
Risk And Classification
Primary CVSS: v3.1 8.8 HIGH from [email protected]
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Problem Types: CWE-321 | CWE-321 The use of a hard-coded cryptographic key significantly increases the possibility that encrypted data may be recovered.
| Version | Source | Type | Score | Severity | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.1 | [email protected] | Primary | 8.8 | HIGH | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
| 3.1 | CNA | CVSS | 8.8 | HIGH | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
CVSS v3.1 Breakdown
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Vendor Declared Affected Products
| Source | Vendor | Product | Version | Platforms |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CNA | Splunk | Splunk Enterprise | affected 10.4 10.4.4 custom | Not specified |
| CNA | Splunk | Splunk Enterprise | affected 10.2 10.2.8 custom | Not specified |
References
| Reference | Source | Link | Tags |
|---|---|---|---|
| advisory.splunk.com/advisories/SVD-2026-1007 | [email protected] | advisory.splunk.com | |
| CVE Program record | CVE.ORG | www.cve.org | canonical |
| NVD vulnerability detail | NVD | nvd.nist.gov | canonical, analysis |
Vendor Comments And Credit
Discovery Credit
CNA: Ofir Alkoby, Security Researcher, a.security (en)
Additional Advisory Data
Solutions
CNA: Upgrade Splunk Enterprise to versions 10.4.4, 10.2.8, 10.0.11, and 9.4.16 or higher.
Workarounds
CNA: If you cannot immediately upgrade to a fixed version, turn off the PostgreSQL sidecar service. Add the following stanza in the `server.conf` configuration file: `[postgres]` `disabled = true`. Restart Splunk Enterprise for the change to take effect. Do not apply this workaround if you use Edge Processor, OpAmp, or SPL2 data pipelines on the instance. Turning off PostgreSQL breaks these features and can cascade to dependent sidecar processes. Core search, indexing, and dashboard functionality are not affected. For more information see [Sidecar configuration settings](https://help.splunk.com/en/splunk-enterprise/administer/admin-manual/10.4/splunk-sidecars/sidecar-configuration-settings) in the Splunk documentation.