Splunk Inc. has disclosed a reflected cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability affecting both Splunk Enterprise and Splunk Cloud Platform, tracked as CVE-2025-20297. The flaw is detailed in Splunk’s security advisory SVD-2025-0601 and rated medium with a CVSSv3.1 score of 4.3.

Despite the moderate score, the flaw poses a real threat due to its ability to be triggered by low-privileged users and without user interaction.

Vulnerability Details: Reflected XSS in PDF Generation Endpoint

The vulnerability resides in the pdfgen/render REST endpoint in Splunk Web, responsible for rendering dashboard PDFs. Attackers with minimal privileges can craft a malicious payload that executes unauthorized JavaScript in another user’s browser when the PDF is generated.

Key Characteristics:

• Type: Reflected XSS (CWE-79)

• Endpoint: /en-US/app/<app_name>/pdfgen/render

• Access Needed: Authenticated user with any role except “admin” or “power”

• Interaction: None required from the victim

• Impact: Possible session hijacking, data exfiltration

This makes the vulnerability accessible to a broader range of attackers who have basic credentials but no elevated access.

CVSS Vector Breakdown:

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N

• Attack Vector: Network

• Complexity: Low

• Privileges: Low

• User Interaction: None

• Confidentiality: Limited impact

• Integrity & Availability: Not impacted

Affected Versions and Patching Guidance

The issue affects several versions of Splunk Enterprise and Splunk Cloud. Splunk Enterprise 9.1 is not impacted.

Mitigation Steps

Upgrade Immediately

• Splunk recommends upgrading to the fixed versions listed above.

• Splunk Cloud users are automatically receiving patches.

Temporary Workaround

For environments where upgrading is not immediately possible, disable Splunk Web to block the vulnerable component:

• Edit web.conf

• Disable Web UI, noting that this will disable dashboards and PDF rendering

Additional Recommendations

• Audit user privileges: Restrict access to essential roles only.

• Monitor logs for any access attempts to pdfgen/render.

• Sanitize user input rigorously in custom apps or dashboards.

Security Impact and Risk

Although classified as a medium-severity vulnerability, the lack of required user interaction and low privilege threshold significantly elevate its risk in real-world environments. A successful exploit could enable:

• Session hijacking

• JavaScript-based phishing attacks

• Data exfiltration from users with access to sensitive dashboards

Splunk credits Klevis Luli for responsibly disclosing this vulnerability.

Conclusion

The CVE-2025-20297 XSS vulnerability in Splunk’s dashboard rendering system is a stark reminder that even non-critical CVSS ratings can pose serious security challenges—especially when the exploit requires minimal permissions.

Organizations using Splunk Enterprise or Splunk Cloud should apply the latest patches without delay and consider additional hardening of user access and application endpoints.

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