---
title: "CVE-2026-76298: Use of Hard-coded Cryptographic Key in the PostgreSQL Sidecar Service in Splunk Enterprise"
url: https://erroneo.us/security/cve/CVE-2026-76298/
description: "CVE-2026-76298 (Splunk Splunk Enterprise): In Splunk Enterprise versions below 10.4.4 and 10.2.8, a user who does not hold the \"admin\" or \"power\" Splunk…"
type: vulnerability-record
section: "Security Digest"
date_published: 2026-10-21
date_modified: 2026-10-25
publisher: erroneo.us
author: erroneo.us Security Desk
cve: "CVE-2026-76298"
kev: false
cvss: 8.8
epss: 0.00256
license: All rights reserved. Quote with attribution and a link.
---

# CVE-2026-76298: Use of Hard-coded Cryptographic Key in the PostgreSQL Sidecar Service in Splunk Enterprise

**Signal:** Normal patch cycle. No exploitation signal; fix it in your next routine update if you are affected. (Computed from CISA KEV, EPSS and CVSS; not an editorial verdict.)

## Should you act?

- No confirmed exploitation. It is not in CISA’s KEV catalog and CISA’s SSVC assessment records no known exploitation. That can change quickly after a public write-up; re-check if you are affected.
- EPSS 0.3% , percentile 16: FIRST’s model estimates a 0.3% chance of exploitation activity in the next 30 days, higher than 16% of all scored CVEs (low). EPSS is a probability, not a verdict.
- Needs an account (low (any account)). Exposure depends on who can log in.
- Editorial verdict: Check exposure. Splunk CVE-2026-76268: Unauthenticated Patroni API RCE — A pre-auth command execution bug, but only on 10.2 and 10.4 search head cluster members whose PostgreSQL sidecar is reachable; if that describes you, upgrade this week and skip straight to the October 21 releases.

## What it is

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.

## Affected products (CVE record)

- Splunk Splunk Enterprise: 10.4 < 10.4.4, 10.2 < 10.2.8

## Severity

- cisco CVSS 3.1: 8.8 `CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`

## Exploitation

- CISA KEV: not listed (no confirmed in-the-wild exploitation known to CISA).
- CISA SSVC assessment: exploitation none , automatable no , technical impact total .
- FIRST EPSS (model of 2026-10-24): 0.26% probability of exploitation activity in the next 30 days; percentile 16.

## Sources

- [CVE.org record CVE-2026-76298](https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-76298)
- [NVD entry CVE-2026-76298](https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-76298)
- [advisory.splunk.com](https://advisory.splunk.com/advisories/SVD-2026-1007)

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Source page: https://erroneo.us/security/cve/CVE-2026-76298/ · Security Digest: https://erroneo.us/security/ · More: https://erroneo.us/llms.txt