# CVE-2023-22940: SPL Command Safeguards Bypass via the ‘collect’ SPL Command Aliases in Splunk Enterprise

> Attackers can bypass SPL command safeguards to expose data to accessible summary indexes, requiring privileged user interaction in Splunk Web.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.3 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:L/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 14 Feb 2023
- **Updated:** 28 Feb 2025
- **Also known as:** GHSA-h6fv-f2m3-r3mm

## What is CVE-2023-22940?

CVE-2023-22940 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Splunk Splunk, published on 14 Feb 2023. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

In Splunk Enterprise versions below 8.1.13, 8.2.10, and 9.0.4, aliases of the ‘collect’ search processing language (SPL) command, including ‘summaryindex’, ‘sumindex’, ‘stash’,’ mcollect’, and ‘meventcollect’, were not designated as safeguarded commands. The commands could potentially allow for the exposing of data to a summary index that unprivileged users could access. The vulnerability requires a higher privileged user to initiate a request within their browser, and only affects instances with Splunk Web enabled.

Weakness: CWE-20 (Improper Input Validation)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-22940?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Splunk Splunk, Splunk Splunk Cloud Platform.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-22940?

No fix has been published for CVE-2023-22940 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2023-22940 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-22940 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Splunk Splunk

- [CVE-2026-20253](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-20253/): Splunk Enterprise Missing Authentication for Critical Function (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-76268](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-76268/): Missing Authentication for Critical Function in the Patroni REST API in Splunk Enterprise (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2026-76284](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-76284/): Improper Neutralization in Splunk Enterprise (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2026-76285](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-76285/): Improper Adherence to Coding Standards in Splunk Enterprise (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2017-17067](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-17067/): Auth bypass in n/a (critical 9.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2023-22940 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-22940 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Splunk Splunk, published on 14 Feb 2023. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-22940 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Splunk Splunk. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-22940/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-22940/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-22940
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-22940
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-22940

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-22940/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.