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Splunk Enterprise Vulnerabilities Allows Privileges Escalation Via Incorrect File Permissions

A high-severity vulnerability has been identified in Splunk's Enterprise and Universal Forwarder products for Windows due to incorrect file permissions during installation and upgrades.

HBy Heather LyonsDec 05, 20251 min read

A high-severity vulnerability has been identified in Splunk's Enterprise and Universal Forwarder products for Windows due to incorrect file permissions during installation and upgrades.

The vulnerability is tracked as CVE-2025-20386 for Splunk Enterprise and CVE-2025-20387 for Universal Forwarder. It allows non-administrator users to access sensitive installation directories and their contents, potentially leading to privilege escalation attacks.

This flaw occurs during new installations or version upgrades of affected Splunk products on Windows systems. The installation process incorrectly assigns permissions to the default installation directories, C:\Program Files\Splunk for Enterprise and C:\Program Files\SplunkUniversalForwarder for Universal Forwarder, granting unprivileged local users read and write access to sensitive configuration files.

Metric Details

CVE ID CVE-2025-20386 (Enterprise), CVE-2025-20387 (Forwarder)

The vulnerability is tracked as CVE-2025-20386 for Splunk Enterprise and CVE-2025-20387 for Universal Forwarder.
Heather Lyons · Thehackingpost

CVSS Score 8.0 (High)

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

CWE CWE-732 (Incorrect Permission Assignment)

Executable binaries and other critical components should remain restricted to administrators. An attacker with local access could exploit these permissions to modify system configurations, inject malicious code, or escalate their privileges to the administrator level.

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Splunk rates both vulnerabilities as CVSS 8.0, highlighting the significant risk to affected environments. The attack vector is network-adjacent, requiring authenticated access and user interaction. The impact extends across confidentiality, integrity, and availability of affected systems.

Immediate remediation involves upgrading to the patched versions: Splunk Enterprise 10.0.2, 9.4.6, 9.3.8, or 9.2.10, and Universal Forwarder 10.0.2, 9.4.6, 9.3.8, or 9.2.10. For organizations unable to upgrade immediately, Splunk provides mitigation steps using icacls commands to reconfigure directory permissions by removing inappropriate access rights and reapplying proper inheritance controls.

Organizations should prioritize patching given Splunk Enterprise's prominence in security operations across Fortune 500 companies and government agencies. The vulnerability affects all supported Windows versions and represents a significant supply chain risk if exploited in defended environments.

Based on reporting by Cyber Security News.

AI transparency. This article was produced with the assistance of artificial intelligence and published under human editorial oversight. AI systems can make mistakes. Read how we use AI (EU AI Act, Art. 50).
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