CVE-2022-32156
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 · uneditedIn Splunk Enterprise and Universal Forwarder versions before 9.0, the Splunk command-line interface (CLI) did not validate TLS certificates while connecting to a remote Splunk platform instance by default. After updating to version 9.0, see Configure TLS host name validation for the Splunk CLI https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/9.0.0/Security/EnableTLSCertHostnameValidation#Configure_TLS_host_name_validation_for_the_Splunk_CLI to enable the remediation. The vulnerability does not affect the Splunk Cloud Platform. At the time of publishing, we have no evidence of exploitation of this vulnerability by external parties. The issue requires conditions beyond the control of a potential bad actor such as a machine-in-the-middle attack. Hence, Splunk rates the complexity of the attack as High.
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 confidenceThe Splunk CLI in versions before 9.0 does not validate TLS certificates by default when connecting to remote Splunk instances, allowing a man-in-the-middle (MITM) attacker to intercept encrypted communications, potentially exposing sensitive data or credentials transmitted between CLI clients and Splunk servers.
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< 9.0< 9.0CVSS 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
- Network
- Complexity
- High
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/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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Determine Splunk installation versionRun 'splunk --version' or check $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/splunkd.xml for the build number, or use the web UI: Help > About SplunkAffected if Version number shown is less than 9.0 (for example, 8.x, 7.x, etc.)
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Identify CLI usage to remote instancesReview any scripts, cron jobs, or automation that invoke the splunk CLI command with remote targets (such as splunk search, splunk heal, or cluster commands pointing to remote hosts)Affected if The CLI is being used to communicate with remote Splunk servers
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Check for TLS validation configurationInspect the CLI's default behavior: in Splunk versions before 9.0, TLS certificate validation is disabled by default when the CLI connects to remote instances. There is no explicit configuration file to check for this default state; the vulnerability exists because validation is simply not performedAffected if Running Splunk version < 9.0 and using CLI to connect to remote hosts without explicit TLS validation enabled
A user is affected if they run Splunk Enterprise or Universal Forwarder version below 9.0 and use the Splunk CLI to communicate with remote Splunk servers.
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 · scoped9.0
Upgrade to Splunk Enterprise/Universal Forwarder version 9.0 or later and enable TLS hostname validation as documented in the Splunk 9.0 security configuration guide.
Splunk Enterprise 9.0 or Universal Forwarder 9.0
- Upgrade Splunk Enterprise to version 9.0 or later
- Upgrade Universal Forwarder to version 9.0 or later
- After upgrading, configure TLS hostname validation for the Splunk CLI by following the documentation at https://docs.splunk.com/Documentation/Splunk/9.0.0/Security/EnableTLSCertHostnameValidation
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2022-32156 — 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-2022-32156 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
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data