Detection: Splunk Stored XSS via Specially Crafted Bulletin Message

DEPRECATED DETECTION

This detection has been marked as deprecated by the Splunk Threat Research team. This means that it will no longer be maintained or supported. If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to us at research@splunk.com.

Updated Date: 2025-04-16 ID: fd852b27-1882-4505-9f2c-64dfb96f4fc1 Author: Rod Soto Type: Hunting Product: Splunk Enterprise Security

Description

The following hunting detection provides fields related to /service/messages endpoints where specially crafted bulletin message can exploit stored XSS.

1
2| rest /services/messages 
3| search message="*http*" 
4| table id author message title 
5| `splunk_stored_xss_via_specially_crafted_bulletin_message_filter`

Data Source

Name Platform Sourcetype Source
Splunk Splunk icon Splunk 'splunkd_ui_access' 'splunkd_ui_access.log'

Macros Used

Name Value

| splunk_stored_xss_via_specially_crafted_bulletin_message_filter | search * |

splunk_stored_xss_via_specially_crafted_bulletin_message_filter is an empty macro by default. It allows the user to filter out any results (false positives) without editing the SPL.

Annotations

- MITRE ATT&CK
+ Kill Chain Phases
+ NIST
+ CIS
- Threat Actors
ID Technique Tactic
T1189 Drive-by Compromise Initial Access
Delivery
DE.AE
CIS 10

Default Configuration

This detection is configured by default in Splunk Enterprise Security to run with the following settings:

Setting Value
Disabled true
Cron Schedule 0 * * * *
Earliest Time -70m@m
Latest Time -10m@m
Schedule Window auto
Creates Risk Event False
This configuration file applies to all detections of type hunting.

Implementation

Need access to Splunk REST api data via search.

Known False Positives

Must look at messages field and find malicious suspicious characters or hyperlinks. Not all requests to this endpoint will be malicious.

Associated Analytic Story

References

Detection Testing

Test Type Status Dataset Source Sourcetype
Validation Not Applicable N/A N/A N/A
Unit ❌ Failing Dataset _json _json
Integration ❌ Failing Dataset _json _json

Replay any dataset to Splunk Enterprise by using our replay.py tool or the UI. Alternatively you can replay a dataset into a Splunk Attack Range

Source: GitHub | Version: 4