Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:LSummary
CVE-2026-20165 is a medium-severity Insertion of Sensitive Information into Log File (CWE-532) vulnerability in Splunk Splunk. Its CVSS base score is 6.3 (Medium).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Credentials In Files (T1552.001); ranked at the 6th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to AC-3 (Access Enforcement) and AC-6 (Least Privilege) — see the control section below for these in your framework.
OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2026-11232
Vulnerability Data
In Splunk Enterprise versions below 10.2.1, 10.0.4, 9.4.9, and 9.3.10, and Splunk Cloud Platform versions below 10.2.2510.7, 10.1.2507.17, 10.0.2503.12, and 9.3.2411.124, a low-privileged user that does not hold the "admin" or "power" Splunk roles could retrieve sensitive information by inspecting…
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the job's search log due to improper access control in the MongoClient logging channel.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
Improper access control exposes sensitive data (likely credentials/connection strings) in MongoClient search logs to low-privileged users, directly enabling credential access from files.
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Directly enforces access restrictions so that low-privileged users without admin/power roles cannot read sensitive data in job search logs.
Ensures the MongoClient logging channel and resulting job logs are only accessible to roles that legitimately require them, blocking the described low-privileged retrieval.
Protects log contents (including search logs) from unauthorized access, modification, or disclosure, mitigating exposure of sensitive information via the logging channel.
Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
Secure SDLC practices directly prohibit writing sensitive data to logs; eliminating the weakness satisfies only one narrow slice of the control.
Log generation configuration can and should exclude sensitive data, but the control statement focuses on availability rather than content filtering.
Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
Requiring de-identification and privacy controls before logs leave the organization reduces the chance that sensitive data inadvertently captured in logs becomes exposed to external parties.
By defining what records must be kept, where, and for how long, the control discourages the inadvertent inclusion of sensitive information in logs or other externally accessible files that fall outside the formal record system.
Mandating deletion of temporary files and logs that may contain sensitive information prevents those artifacts from remaining accessible after the data is no longer needed.
When log entries are produced from masked data sets, the control prevents the inadvertent insertion of sensitive values into externally accessible log files.
DLP inspection of logs and file transfers can detect and block the inadvertent placement of sensitive tokens or credentials into externally accessible log files before they are written or transmitted.
Requiring restrictions on free-text fields and proper error-message handling stops developers from embedding or leaking sensitive data into logs or diagnostic output.