This CVE exposes a trust boundary failure in Splunk's distributed search architecture: the REST endpoint for knowledge bundle upload lacks the edit_dist_peer capability check that other distributed search operations enforce. A low-privilege user can exploit this by uploading a malicious knowledge bundle that gets propagated to search peers, achieving RCE through architectural positioning rather than exploit chains. The attack surface is the implicit trust model between search heads and peers — communication is authenticated at the infrastructure level but capability enforcement is applied per-feature, not holistically. This isn't a new pattern for Splunk: CVE-2022-43571 and CVE-2023-46214 involved similar authorization gaps in distributed search contexts, suggesting institutional failure in auditing legacy endpoints as the capability model evolves. The forensic question — whether edit_dist_peer was never implemented on this endpoint or was removed during refactoring — matters for remediation design: the former indicates incomplete threat modeling at feature creation, the latter indicates static analysis opportunities for authorization pattern drift. Check your Splunk deployment for the edit_dist_peer capability on /servicesNS/{user}/{app}/storage/transforms/collections endpoints and any bundle-related REST handlers. If you're running affected versions (review Splunk advisory for exact versions), prioritize patching — but also audit other distributed search endpoints for consistent capability enforcement, as this pattern suggests systemic gaps beyond the single patched endpoint. The blast radius scales with search peer topology: deployments with more peers face proportionally larger exposure from a single successful exploit.
CVE-2026-76313
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 10.4.2, 10.2.6, 10.0.9, and 9.4.14, a user who does not hold the "admin" or "power" Splunk roles could perform Remote Code Execution (RCE) by uploading a malicious knowledge bundle and causing it to be used by distributed search, which can allow for access to all relevant data and affect system integrity and availability. The vulnerability is possible because the Representational State Transfer (REST) API endpoint for knowledge bundle upload does not require the high-privilege capability edit_dist_peer, and distributed search accepts caller-supplied knowledge bundle selections from users who do not hold that capability. For more information see What search heads send to search peers (https://help.splunk.com/en/splunk-enterprise/administer/distributed-search/9.2/knowledge-bundle-replication/what-search-heads-send-to-search-peers), About configuring role-based user access (https://help.splunk.com/en/splunk-enterprise/administer/manage-users-and-security/9.0/manage-splunk-platform-users-and-roles/about-configuring-role-based-user-access), Define roles on the Splunk platform with capabilities (https://help.splunk.com/en/splunk-enterprise/administer/manage-users-and-security/9.1/manage-splunk-platform-users-and-roles/define-roles-on-the-splunk-platform-with-capabilities), and Using the REST API reference (https://help.splunk.com/en/splunk-enterprise/rest-api-reference/10.4/introduction/using-the-rest-api-reference) in the Splunk documentation.
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 analysisThe application fails to correctly restrict what a user can do or reach, so functions or resources are available to people who should not have them. Attackers simply probe for the paths where the check is missing or wrong. The fix is to enforce access-control decisions consistently on every request, evaluated against the acting user rather than assumed from context.
General guidance for the improper access control class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →
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>= 9.4.0, < 9.4.14>= 10.0.0, < 10.0.9>= 10.2.0, < 10.2.6>= 10.4.0, < 10.4.2CVSS 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
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
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 · scoped9.4.1410.0.910.2.6
Upgrade to Splunk Enterprise 10.4.2, 10.2.6, 10.0.9, or 9.4.14 (or later) depending on your current major version branch
- 1. Identify the current Splunk Enterprise version by navigating to Settings > About > Product info in the Splunk web interface or running: splunk version
- 2. Determine the appropriate upgrade path based on current version: for 10.x versions upgrade to 10.4.2 or later; for 9.x versions upgrade to 9.4.14 or later
- 3. Download the appropriate Splunk Enterprise upgrade package from https://www.splunk.com/en_us/download.html (requires Splunk customer account)
- 4. Back up all critical Splunk configurations, apps, and knowledge objects: cd $SPLUNK_HOME && tar -cvzf splunk_backup.tar.gz etc/
- 5. Stop the Splunk service: $SPLUNK_HOME/bin/splunk stop
- 6. Install the upgrade package using the same installation directory as the existing installation
- 7. Start the Splunk service: $SPLUNK_HOME/bin/splunk start
- 8. Verify the upgrade was successful by checking the version in About > Product info and confirming all apps and searches function normally
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2026-76313 — 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 sourcesThis CVE exposes a trust boundary failure in Splunk's distributed search architecture: the REST endpoint for knowledge bundle upload lacks the edit_dist_peer capability check that other distributed search operations enforce. A low-privilege user can exploit this by uploading a malicious knowledge bundle that gets propagated to search peers, achieving RCE through architectural positioning rather than exploit chains. The attack surface is the implicit trust model between search heads and peers — communication is authenticated at the infrastructure level but capability enforcement is applied per-feature, not holistically. This isn't a new pattern for Splunk: CVE-2022-43571 and CVE-2023-46214 involved similar authorization gaps in distributed search contexts, suggesting institutional failure in auditing legacy endpoints as the capability model evolves. The forensic question — whether edit_dist_peer was never implemented on this endpoint or was removed during refactoring — matters for remediation design: the former indicates incomplete threat modeling at feature creation, the latter indicates static analysis opportunities for authorization pattern drift. Check your Splunk deployment for the edit_dist_peer capability on /servicesNS/{user}/{app}/storage/transforms/collections endpoints and any bundle-related REST handlers. If you're running affected versions (review Splunk advisory for exact versions), prioritize patching — but also audit other distributed search endpoints for consistent capability enforcement, as this pattern suggests systemic gaps beyond the single patched endpoint. The blast radius scales with search peer topology: deployments with more peers face proportionally larger exposure from a single successful exploit.
Practitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2026-76313 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
A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.
- 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