CVE-2021-42743
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedA misconfiguration in the node default path allows for local privilege escalation from a lower privileged user to the Splunk user in Splunk Enterprise versions before 8.1.1 on Windows.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidenceA path misconfiguration in Splunk Enterprise on Windows allows local privilege escalation, enabling a lower-privileged Windows user to gain Splunk user privileges by exploiting the node default path setting.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data< 8.1.1CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Verify Splunk Enterprise versionCheck the installed Splunk version by accessing the About page in Splunk Web or running: splunk --version in the Splunk bin directory. Compare the version number to the affected range (versions prior to 8.1.1).Affected if The installed version is 8.1.0 or earlier on Windows.
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Confirm Windows operating systemVerify the Splunk Enterprise instance is running on a Windows host (this vulnerability affects Windows deployments only).Affected if Splunk Enterprise is running on Windows.
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Identify node default path settingLocate the node default path configuration in Splunk Enterprise. This is typically found in Splunk configuration files or the Splunk Web interface under settings related to node or default path configurations.Affected if The node default path is configured and accessible.
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Inspect node default path permissionsExamine the file system permissions on the configured node default path directory. Check which Windows users and groups have read, write, or execute access to this path.Affected if Lower-privileged Windows users (non-admin) have unauthorized access to the node default path.
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Check for unauthorized Splunk user accountsReview Splunk user accounts to identify any unexpected users with Splunk-level privileges that should not have been granted to low-privileged Windows users.Affected if Lower-privileged Windows users have unexpectedly acquired Splunk user privileges.
A Windows Splunk Enterprise installation is affected if it runs version 8.1.0 or earlier AND has a node default path configuration accessible to lower-privileged Windows users, allowing potential privilege escalation to Splunk user privileges.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
dbcve · scoped8.1.1
Upgrade Splunk Enterprise to version 8.1.1 or later, or properly secure the node default path permissions to prevent unauthorized access.
Splunk Enterprise 8.1.1 or later
- Verify current Splunk Enterprise version by navigating to Settings > About Splunk in the web interface or running 'splunk --version' from command line
- Review Splunk upgrade documentation at docs.splunk.com for your current version
- Create a full backup of your Splunk instance including $SPLUNK_HOME directory and any custom configurations
- Test the upgrade in a non-production environment first
- Stop the Splunk service using 'splunk stop' or Windows Services console
- Run the Splunk Enterprise 8.1.1 (or later) installer for Windows
- Follow the upgrade wizard prompts, ensuring to preserve existing configurations
- Start the Splunk service using 'splunk start' or Windows Services console
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation3.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-42743 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2021-42743 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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