CVE-2026-76298
Use of Hard-coded Cryptographic Key in the PostgreSQL Sidecar Service in Splunk Enterprise
- Published
- Updated
- Reserved
- Assigned by
- cisco
Description
In Splunk Enterprise versions below 10.4.4 and 10.2.8, a user who does not hold the "admin" or "power" Splunk roles could derive the PostgreSQL sidecar database superuser password and run arbitrary operating system commands as the user account running Splunk Enterprise on search head cluster members. The vulnerability is possible because the PostgreSQL sidecar service derives a privileged database password from the search head cluster identifier that appears in search job logs. For more information see About configuring role-based user access (https://help.splunk.com/en/splunk-enterprise/administer/manage-users-and-security/10.2/manage-splunk-platform-users-and-roles/about-configuring-role-based-user-access), server.conf (https://help.splunk.com/en/splunk-enterprise/administer/admin-manual/10.2/configuration-file-reference/10.2.0-configuration-file-reference/server.conf), and Sidecar configuration settings (https://help.splunk.com/en/splunk-enterprise/administer/admin-manual/10.4/splunk-sidecars/sidecar-configuration-settings) in the Splunk documentation.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| ciscoCNA (assigner) | 3.1 | High8.8 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
| NVDNVD · Analyzed | 3.1 | High8.8 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 0.35% · top 71% of all CVEs (6 Nov 2026)
- CISA SSVC
- Exploitation: none · Automatable: no · Technical impact: total
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: High 8.8.
Weakness
Affected products
- affected 10.4 – < 10.4.4
- affected 10.2 – < 10.2.8
What to do
Solution: Upgrade Splunk Enterprise to versions 10.4.4, 10.2.8, 10.0.11, and 9.4.16 or higher.
Workaround: If you cannot immediately upgrade to a fixed version, turn off the PostgreSQL sidecar service. Add the following stanza in the `server.conf` configuration file: `[postgres]` `disabled = true`. Restart Splunk Enterprise for the change to take effect. Do not apply this workaround if you use Edge Processor, OpAmp, or SPL2 data pipelines on the instance. Turning off PostgreSQL breaks these features and can cascade to dependent sidecar processes. Core search, indexing, and dashboard functionality are not affected. For more information see [Sidecar configuration settings](https://help.splunk.com/en/splunk-enterprise/administer/admin-manual/10.4/splunk-sidecars/sidecar-configuration-settings) in the Splunk documentation.
References (1)
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisories (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://trackcve.app/cve/CVE-2026-76298)Record last updated .