# CVE-2026-76401: Regular Expression Denial of Service (DoS) through the REST API in Splunk Connect for Kafka

> An unauthenticated attacker can cause denial of service in Splunk Connect for Kafka by submitting a malicious regular expression via the REST API.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.9 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 19 Aug 2026
- **Updated:** 20 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** GHSA-9w75-cvch-h753

## What is CVE-2026-76401?

CVE-2026-76401 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Splunk Connect for Kafka, published on 19 Aug 2026. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

In Splunk Connect for Kafka versions below 2.2.7, an unauthenticated user who can reach the Kafka Connect Representational State Transfer (REST) API could configure timestamp extraction with a crafted regular expression and matching event data to block a Kafka Connect worker thread, stopping event delivery for the affected connector. The vulnerability is possible because timestamp extraction evaluates customer-supplied regular expressions without a time limit. For more information see Install Splunk Connect for Kafka (https://help.splunk.com/en/data-management/integrate-data-with-add-ons/splunk-connect-for-kafka/2.2/install/install-splunk-connect-for-kafka) and Data ingestion parameters for Splunk Connect for Kafka (https://help.splunk.com/en/data-management/integrate-data-with-add-ons/splunk-connect-for-kafka/2.2/overview/data-ingestion-parameters-for-splunk-connect-for-kafka) in the Splunk documentation.

Weakness: CWE-407 (Inefficient Algorithmic Complexity)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-76401?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Splunk Connect for Kafka.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-76401?

No fix has been published for CVE-2026-76401 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2026-76401 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-76401 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Splunk Connect for Kafka

- [CVE-2026-76402](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-76402/): Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) through the REST API in Splunk Connect for Kafka (high 8.2)
- [CVE-2026-76403](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-76403/): Improper Certificate Validation through HTTP Event Collector Kerberos Authentication in Splunk Connect for Kafka (high 7.4)
- [CVE-2026-76400](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-76400/): Denial of Service (DoS) through the REST API in Splunk Connect for Kafka (medium 5.9)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-76401 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-76401 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Splunk Connect for Kafka, published on 19 Aug 2026. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-76401 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Splunk Connect for Kafka. 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-2026-76401/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-76401/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-76401
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-76401
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-76401

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-76401/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.