Detection: Splunk ES DoS Investigations Manager via Investigation Creation

REMOVED DETECTION

This detection has been removed from the Splunk Threat Research content library and is no longer maintained or supported.

Reason: Detection is deprecated as the associated CVEs have been patched in the latest Splunk release.

Removed in version: 5.6.0

If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to us at research@splunk.com.

Updated Date: 2026-05-14 ID: 7f6a07bd-82ef-46b8-8eba-802278abd00e Author: Rod Soto, Eric McGinnis, Chase Franklin Type: TTP Product: Splunk Enterprise Security

Description

The following analytic detects the creation of malformed Investigations in Splunk Enterprise Security (ES) versions lower than 7.1.2, which can lead to a denial of service (DoS). It leverages internal Splunk logs, specifically monitoring the splunkd_investigation_rest_handler with error statuses during investigation creation. This activity is significant as it can disrupt the functionality of the Investigations manager, hindering incident response efforts. If confirmed malicious, this could prevent security teams from accessing critical investigation data, severely impacting their ability to manage and respond to security incidents effectively.

Search

1`splunkd_investigation_rest_handler` method=put msg=*investigation* status=error 
2| stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime by user host method msg 
3| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` 
4| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)` 
5| `splunk_es_dos_investigations_manager_via_investigation_creation_filter`

Data Source

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

Macros Used

Name	Value
splunkd_investigation_rest_handler	`index=_internal sourcetype=investigation_rest_handler`
splunk_es_dos_investigations_manager_via_investigation_creation_filter	``

splunk_es_dos_investigations_manager_via_investigation_creation_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
T1499	Endpoint Denial of Service	Impact

CVE

CVE-2024-22165

Default Configuration

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

Setting	Value
Disabled	true
Cron Schedule	`N/A`
Earliest Time	`N/A`
Latest Time	`N/A`
Schedule Window	`N/A`
Creates Finding (Notable)	No
Creates Intermediate Finding (Risk Event)	No

TTP detections generate a Finding (Notable) and may generate Intermediate Findings (Risk Events) for associated entities.

Implementation

This search requires access to internal indexes. Only affects Splunk Enterprise Security versions lower than 7.1.2.

Known False Positives

The vulnerability requires an authenticated session and access to create an Investigation. It only affects the availability of the Investigations manager, but without the manager, the Investigations functionality becomes unusable for most users. This search gives the exact offending event.

Associated Analytic Story

Splunk Vulnerabilities

References

https://advisory.splunk.com/advisories/SVD-2024-0102

Detection Testing

Test Type	Status	Dataset	Source	Sourcetype
Validation	Not Applicable	N/A	N/A	N/A
Unit	Not Applicable	N/A	`N/A`	`N/A`
Integration	Not Applicable	N/A	`N/A`	`N/A`

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: 6