Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
This issue lets a vulnerable Splunk web interface send users to attacker-controlled websites. The main business risk is phishing: a trusted Splunk link could be abused to move staff toward credential theft or fraud. The affected versions are old, so urgency depends on whether legacy Splunk Enterprise or Splunk Light remains deployed.
Executive priority
Treat this as a legacy exposure cleanup item unless vulnerable Splunk is internet-facing or used by privileged teams. Prioritize confirmation and upgrade because Splunk often holds sensitive operational data and trusted branding can make phishing more convincing.
Technical view
CVE-2016-4857 is an open redirect in Splunk Enterprise 6.4.x before 6.4.2, 6.3.x before 6.3.6, 6.2.x before 6.2.11, and Splunk Light before 6.4.2. The public description says the vectors are unspecified. No CVSS, CWE, or KEV listing is provided in the source bundle.
Likely exposure
Exposure is most likely in legacy Splunk Enterprise or Splunk Light deployments with user-accessible Splunk web interfaces. Internet-facing Splunk portals increase phishing usefulness. Organizations on versions at or above the listed fixed releases are not indicated as affected by the provided sources.
Exploitation context
The provided sources describe phishing via arbitrary redirects but do not state active exploitation. CISA KEV status is false in the source bundle. The missing vector details limit confidence about practical exploitability without vendor advisory review or safe internal validation.
Researcher notes
The public record names affected version branches and fixed thresholds but does not provide vectors, CVSS, CWE, or exploit details. Avoid assuming code execution or authentication bypass. Focus research on version confirmation, redirect behavior, exposure of Splunk web, and evidence of phishing use.
Mitigation direction
- Upgrade Splunk Enterprise 6.4.x to 6.4.2 or later.
- Upgrade Splunk Enterprise 6.3.x to 6.3.6 or later.
- Upgrade Splunk Enterprise 6.2.x to 6.2.11 or later.
- Upgrade Splunk Light to 6.4.2 or later.
- Review Splunk advisory SP-CAAAPQM for vendor-specific guidance.
Validation and detection
- Inventory deployed Splunk Enterprise and Splunk Light versions.
- Confirm no listed vulnerable versions remain in production or staging.
- Identify externally reachable Splunk web interfaces.
- Review Splunk web access logs for suspicious redirect-related activity.
- Check security awareness and reporting paths for Splunk-themed phishing.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CVE-2016-4857 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- Unknown
- CVSS
- Not scored
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
CVSS and timeline data
No CVSS vectors or timeline events were available in the normalized CVE source material.
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://www.splunk.com/view/SP-CAAAPQMCVE reference · x_refsource_CONFIRM
- JVN#39926655CVE reference · third-party-advisory, x_refsource_JVN
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.