Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:NSummary
CVE-2026-20238 is a medium-severity Incorrect Authorization (CWE-863) vulnerability in Splunk Ai Toolkit. Its CVSS base score is 6.5 (Medium).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Data from Information Repositories (T1213); ranked at the 24th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
This vulnerability is AI-related — categorised as Enterprise AI Assistants; in the Privacy and Disclosure risk domain.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to AC-3 (Access Enforcement) and AC-4 (Information Flow Enforcement) — see the control section below for these in your framework.
OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2026-31140
Vulnerability Data
In Splunk AI Toolkit versions below 5.7.3, a low-privileged user that does not hold the 'admin' or 'power' roles could access confidential data that was restricted through `srchFilter` configurations on custom roles.<br><br>The app contains an `authorize.conf` configuration file with a…
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`srchFilter` entry that modifies the built-in ‘user’ role. Because the Splunk platform combines inherited search filters with the `OR` SPL operator, the injected filter overrides more restrictive filters on child roles.
- CWE(s)
AI Security AnalysisAI
- AI Category
- Enterprise AI Assistants
- Risk Domain
- Privacy and Disclosure
- OWASP Top 10 for LLMs 2025
- None mapped
- Classification Reason
- Matched keywords: ai
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
Authorization bypass in Splunk data search filters directly enables unauthorized access to restricted information repository contents (T1213).
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Directly enforces srchFilter restrictions on role-based searches so that low-privileged users cannot bypass data-access limits via role inheritance.
Limits the privileges granted to inherited roles so that an overly permissive srchFilter on the base 'user' role cannot override child-role restrictions.
Enforces information-flow rules between search results and users by ensuring role-combined filters do not inadvertently expand data visibility.
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.
Defining, enforcing, and reviewing access authorizations and least privilege directly prevents incorrect authorization checks.
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 consistency between access rights and classification plus formal approval steps ensures that the authorization logic correctly distinguishes between entities that should and should not be granted access.
Enforcing policy-driven approval and role-change reviews stops incorrect or stale authorization decisions from remaining in effect after job changes or terminations.
By tying access rights to identity, device, location and classification, the control reduces the likelihood that an authorization decision will be based on an incorrect or bypassed policy.