CVE-2025-20298: Incorrect permission assignment on Universal Forwarder for Windows during new installation or upgrade

Severity: high (CVSS 8.0 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.3% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2025-06-02 · updated 2026-06-17
Weakness: CWE-732

Description

In Universal Forwarder for Windows versions below 9.4.2, 9.3.4, 9.2.6, and 9.1.9, a new installation of or an upgrade to an affected version can result in incorrect permissions assignment in the Universal Forwarder for Windows Installation directory (by default, C:\Program Files\SplunkUniversalForwarder). This lets non-administrator users on the machine access the directory and all its contents.

Affected products

Splunk Universal Forwarder: from 9.1.0 before 9.1.9; from 9.2.0 before 9.2.6; from 9.3.0 before 9.3.4; from 9.4.0 before 9.4.2 — fixed in 9.1.9, 9.2.6, 9.3.4, 9.4.2

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Splunk Universal Forwarder 9.1.9, 9.2.6, 9.3.4, 9.4.2. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

https://advisory.splunk.com/advisories/SVD-2025-0602

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