CVE-2024-45732: Splunk Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

CVE-2024-45732 Overview

CVE-2024-45732 is a Missing Authorization vulnerability (CWE-862) affecting Splunk Enterprise and Splunk Cloud Platform. The vulnerability allows a low-privileged user who does not hold the "admin" or "power" Splunk roles to run a search as the "nobody" Splunk user in the SplunkDeploymentServerConfig app. This could enable the low-privileged user to access potentially restricted data that should be inaccessible to their role.

Critical Impact

Low-privileged users can bypass authorization controls to access restricted data by executing searches under the context of the "nobody" Splunk user through the SplunkDeploymentServerConfig app.

Affected Products

• Splunk Enterprise versions below 9.3.1
• Splunk Enterprise 9.2.0 versions below 9.2.3
• Splunk Cloud Platform versions below 9.2.2403.103, 9.1.2312.200, 9.1.2312.110, and 9.1.2308.208

Discovery Timeline

• October 14, 2024 - CVE-2024-45732 published to NVD
• October 17, 2024 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2024-45732

Vulnerability Analysis

This vulnerability stems from a Missing Authorization weakness (CWE-862) in the SplunkDeploymentServerConfig app. The core issue is that the application fails to properly verify whether a user has the necessary privileges before allowing them to execute searches under the "nobody" user context.

The "nobody" user in Splunk is a system-level account that typically has access to data and resources that regular low-privileged users should not be able to access. By exploiting this authorization gap, attackers with minimal privileges can effectively escalate their access to view restricted data.

The vulnerability requires network access and valid low-privileged credentials, but does not require user interaction to exploit. The primary impact is unauthorized disclosure of confidential information.

Root Cause

The root cause is a Missing Authorization check (CWE-862) in the SplunkDeploymentServerConfig app. The application does not properly validate that the requesting user has appropriate roles (such as "admin" or "power") before allowing them to execute searches as the "nobody" Splunk user. This creates a privilege escalation vector where authorization boundaries are not enforced correctly.

Attack Vector

The attack is network-based and requires an attacker to have low-privileged authenticated access to the Splunk environment. The attacker can exploit this vulnerability by:

1. Authenticating to the Splunk instance with a low-privileged account that lacks "admin" or "power" roles
2. Accessing the SplunkDeploymentServerConfig app
3. Executing a search query that runs under the context of the "nobody" user
4. Accessing restricted data that the attacker's actual role should not permit

This vulnerability does not require any user interaction and has low attack complexity once authenticated access is obtained.

Detection Methods for CVE-2024-45732

Indicators of Compromise

• Unusual search activity in the SplunkDeploymentServerConfig app by low-privileged users
• Search queries executed under the "nobody" user context that originate from non-admin accounts
• Access logs showing low-privileged users querying data outside their normal access patterns
• Audit logs showing searches in the SplunkDeploymentServerConfig app from unexpected user accounts

Detection Strategies

• Monitor Splunk audit logs for searches executed in the SplunkDeploymentServerConfig app by users without "admin" or "power" roles
• Implement alerts for any search activity running under the "nobody" user context
• Review access patterns for the SplunkDeploymentServerConfig app to identify unauthorized access attempts
• Utilize the Splunk Research detection rule published for this vulnerability

Monitoring Recommendations

• Enable comprehensive audit logging for all search activity in Splunk
• Configure alerts for privilege escalation patterns in the SplunkDeploymentServerConfig app
• Regularly review user role assignments to ensure principle of least privilege
• Monitor for data access anomalies that may indicate exploitation of this vulnerability

How to Mitigate CVE-2024-45732

Immediate Actions Required

• Upgrade Splunk Enterprise to version 9.3.1 or later, or version 9.2.3 or later for the 9.2.x branch
• Upgrade Splunk Cloud Platform to version 9.2.2403.103, 9.1.2312.200, 9.1.2312.110, or 9.1.2308.208 or later
• Review user access logs for any potential exploitation prior to patching
• Audit all users with access to the SplunkDeploymentServerConfig app

Patch Information

Splunk has released security patches to address this vulnerability. Organizations should upgrade to the following fixed versions:

• Splunk Enterprise: Version 9.3.1 or 9.2.3 and later
• Splunk Cloud Platform: Versions 9.2.2403.103, 9.1.2312.200, 9.1.2312.110, or 9.1.2308.208 and later

For complete patch details and download links, refer to the Splunk Security Advisory SVD-2024-1002.

Workarounds

• Restrict access to the SplunkDeploymentServerConfig app to only users with "admin" or "power" roles
• Implement network segmentation to limit access to Splunk management interfaces
• Enable strict role-based access controls and regularly audit user permissions
• Monitor and log all access to the SplunkDeploymentServerConfig app pending patch deployment

# Review users with access to SplunkDeploymentServerConfig app
# Run this search in Splunk to identify potentially affected users
index=_audit action=search info=granted app=SplunkDeploymentServerConfig
| stats count by user
| lookup user_roles user OUTPUT roles
| where NOT match(roles, "admin|power")