CVE-2025-20230
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 versions below 9.4.1, 9.3.3, 9.2.5, and 9.1.8, and versions below 3.8.38 and 3.7.23 of the Splunk Secure Gateway app on Splunk Cloud Platform, a low-privileged user that does not hold the “admin“ or “power“ Splunk roles could edit and delete other user data in App Key Value Store (KVStore) collections that the Splunk Secure Gateway app created. This is due to missing access control and incorrect ownership of the data in those KVStore collections.<br><br>In the affected versions, the `nobody` user owned the data in the KVStore collections. This meant that there was no specific owner assigned to the data in those collections.
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 missing access control vulnerability in Splunk Enterprise and the Splunk Secure Gateway app allows low-privileged users (non-admin/non-power roles) to edit and delete data owned by other users in App Key Value Store (KVStore) collections. The data was incorrectly owned by the 'nobody' user, providing no proper ownership boundaries or role-based access control on the stored data.
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>= 9.1.0, < 9.1.8>= 9.2.0, < 9.2.5>= 9.3.0, < 9.3.3>= 9.4.0, < 9.4.1>= 3.7.0, < 3.7.23>= 3.8.0, < 3.8.38CVSS 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
- Low
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
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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Check Splunk Enterprise versionRun 'splunk version' from the Splunk bin directory, or navigate to Settings > About > Version in the Splunk web interfaceAffected if Version is 9.1.0 through 9.1.7, 9.2.0 through 9.2.4, 9.3.0 through 9.3.2, or 9.4.0
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Check Splunk Secure Gateway app versionNavigate to Apps > Manage Apps in Splunk web UI and locate the Splunk Secure Gateway app, or inspect the app's default/meta file in $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/apps/splunk_secure_gateway/Affected if App version is 3.7.0 through 3.7.22 or 3.8.0 through 3.8.37
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Verify KVStore collections existCheck for KVStore configuration in $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/system/local/collections.conf or review collections via Splunk REST API at /servicesNS/nobody/splunk_secure_gateway/storage/collections/Affected if KVStore collections are configured for the Splunk Secure Gateway app
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Identify collection ownershipQuery the KVStore collections using the Splunk REST API or inspect the collection metadata to determine if data is owned by the 'nobody' userAffected if Collections show 'nobody' as the owner or have no defined ownership boundaries
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Review user role assignmentsNavigate to Settings > Users and Roles in Splunk web UI to identify non-admin/non-power users who have access to the Splunk Secure Gateway appAffected if Low-privileged users (non-admin, non-power) have access to the Splunk Secure Gateway app and its KVStore collections
You are affected if your Splunk Enterprise version or Splunk Secure Gateway app version falls within the affected ranges AND the KVStore collections exist with 'nobody' ownership that low-privileged users can access.
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 · scoped3.7.233.8.389.1.8
Upgrade Splunk Enterprise to versions 9.4.1, 9.3.3, 9.2.5, or 9.1.8 (or later), and upgrade the Splunk Secure Gateway app to version 3.8.38 or 3.7.23 (or later) on Splunk Cloud Platform to implement proper data ownership and access controls.
Splunk Enterprise 9.4.1 (or 9.3.3/9.2.5/9.1.8 based on your branch); Splunk Secure Gateway 3.8.38 or 3.7.23
- Upgrade Splunk Enterprise to version 9.4.1, 9.3.3, 9.2.5, or 9.1.8 (or later) depending on your current major version branch
- If using Splunk Secure Gateway app, upgrade to version 3.8.38 or later, or 3.7.23 or later depending on your current major version branch
- After upgrading, verify that KVStore collections created by Splunk Secure Gateway now have proper ownership and access controls
- Confirm low-privileged users can no longer edit or delete other users' data in KVStore collections
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-20230 — 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-2025-20230 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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