Detection: Splunk ES DoS Through Investigation Attachments

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This detection has been removed from the Splunk Threat Research content library and is no longer maintained or supported.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: bb85b25e-2d6b-4e39-bd27-50db42edcb8f Author: Rod Soto, Eric McGinnis, Chase Franklin Type: TTP Product: Splunk Enterprise Security

Description

The following analytic detects attempts to perform a denial of service (DoS) attack through investigation attachments in Splunk Enterprise Security (ES) versions below 7.1.2. It leverages internal Splunk logs, specifically monitoring the splunkd_investigation_rest_handler for error statuses related to investigation objects. This activity is significant because it can render the Investigation feature inaccessible, disrupting incident response and forensic analysis. If confirmed malicious, this attack could prevent security teams from effectively managing and investigating security incidents, leading to prolonged exposure and potential data breaches.

Search

1`splunkd_investigation_rest_handler` status=error object=investigation 
2| stats min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime values(status) as status values(msg) as msg values(id) as investigation_id by user 
3| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` 
4| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)` 
5| `splunk_es_dos_through_investigation_attachments_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_through_investigation_attachments_filter	``

splunk_es_dos_through_investigation_attachments_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-2024-22164

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 Enterprise Security versions below 7.1.2.

Known False Positives

This search will show the exact DoS event via error message and investigation id. The error however does not point exactly at the uploader as any users associated with the investigation will be affected. Operator must investigate using investigation id the possible origin of the malicious upload. Attack only affects specific investigation not the investigation manager.

Associated Analytic Story

Splunk Vulnerabilities

References

https://advisory.splunk.com/advisories/SVD-2024-0101

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