Privilege escalation via encoded insecure OPENSSLDIR path
Published Aug 30, 2023 · Updated Feb 28, 2025
Privilege escalation in Splunk Enterprise before 8.2.12, 9.0.6, and 9.1.1 allows local users to execute code on Windows. The affected DLL encodes the build system's local directory as OPENSSLDIR because that definition was omitted, causing attacker-placed code in a recreated path to load. A low-privileged local user must discover and create that directory structure; successful exploitation elevates code execution on the host.
Summary
What happened
Privilege escalation in Splunk Enterprise before 8.2.12, 9.0.6, and 9.1.1 allows local users to execute code on Windows. The affected DLL encodes the build system's local directory as OPENSSLDIR because that definition was omitted, causing attacker-placed code in a recreated path to load. A low-privileged local user must discover and create that directory structure; successful exploitation elevates code execution on the host.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2023-40596
- Published
- Aug 30, 2023
- Updated
- Feb 28, 2025
- Vendor
- Splunk, Inc.
- Product
- Splunk Enterprise
- Classifications
- CWE-665, CWE-427, T1574.006
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Aug 30, 2023CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Feb 28, 2025Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=8.2 <8.2.12
- Affected versionversion=9.0 <9.0.6
- Affected versionversion=9.1 <9.1.1
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
No public exploit references are available in this record.
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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