CVE-2022-43564 is a vulnerability classified under CWE-400, indicating uncontrolled resource consumption, found in Splunk Enterprise versions prior to 8.1.12, 8.2.9, and 9.0.2. The flaw allows a remote authenticated user with privileges to create search macros and schedule search reports to trigger a denial of service (DoS) condition. This is achieved by crafting malicious search macros that, when executed, consume excessive system resources such as CPU and memory, leading to service degradation or complete unavailability. The vulnerability does not impact confidentiality or integrity but directly affects availability. Exploitation requires authenticated access with elevated privileges (permission to create macros and schedule reports), but no user interaction beyond that is necessary. The CVSS v3.1 base score is 4.9 (medium severity), reflecting the moderate impact and the requirement for high privileges. No known exploits are currently reported in the wild. The vulnerability is significant because Splunk Enterprise is widely used for security information and event management (SIEM), log aggregation, and operational intelligence, making availability critical for continuous monitoring and incident response. The lack of a patch link in the provided data suggests organizations should verify they have updated to the fixed versions (8.1.12, 8.2.9, or 9.0.2) or later to mitigate the risk.

For European organizations, the impact of this vulnerability primarily concerns the availability of Splunk Enterprise services. Disruption of Splunk can impede security monitoring, log analysis, and incident detection capabilities, potentially delaying response to other cyber threats. Organizations in sectors with high reliance on real-time data analytics and security operations centers (SOCs), such as finance, telecommunications, energy, and government, may experience operational interruptions. The DoS condition could also affect compliance with regulatory requirements for continuous monitoring and incident reporting under frameworks like GDPR and NIS Directive. Although the vulnerability requires authenticated access with elevated privileges, insider threats or compromised accounts could exploit this to degrade service. The absence of known exploits reduces immediate risk, but the potential for disruption in critical infrastructure and large enterprises remains a concern.

1. Upgrade Splunk Enterprise to versions 8.1.12, 8.2.9, 9.0.2, or later to ensure the vulnerability is patched. 2. Restrict the ability to create search macros and schedule reports to a minimal set of trusted administrators to reduce the attack surface. 3. Implement strict access controls and monitor privileged user activities for unusual macro creation or scheduling patterns. 4. Employ resource usage monitoring and alerting on Splunk servers to detect abnormal CPU or memory consumption spikes that may indicate exploitation attempts. 5. Conduct regular audits of scheduled searches and macros to identify and remove any suspicious or unnecessary entries. 6. Use network segmentation and firewall rules to limit access to Splunk management interfaces to trusted networks and users only. 7. Incorporate multi-factor authentication (MFA) for accounts with elevated privileges to reduce risk of credential compromise. 8. Prepare incident response plans specifically addressing potential DoS scenarios impacting Splunk availability.