CVE-2026-20238 | Improper Access Control through Role Inheritance in Splunk AI Toolkit app

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 `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.

Published: 2026-05-20 Last update: 2026-06-17 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2026-20238 is rated Low Risk (34.1/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.31%). Mandatory action: Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2026-20238

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-06-15 0.03% 0.31% +0.28%
2 2026-05-21 0.03%

Full EPSS history (2 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2026-20238

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
6.5 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
2.8 3.6 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2026-20238

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2026-20238

GHSA-7rq8-f887-2r5g · Severity: medium — In Splunk AI Toolkit versions below 5.7.3, a low-privileged user that does not hold the 'admin'...

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2026-20238

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
splunk ai_toolkit >= 5.7.0, < 5.7.3 cpe:2.3:a:splunk:ai_toolkit:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2026-20238

URL Tags
https://advisory.splunk.com/advisories/SVD-2026-0502 Mitigation Vendor Advisory
cvelogic Threat Intelligence