Security

myServerCertificate.pem

ephemeric
Contributor

Greetz,

http://wiki.splunk.com/Community:Splunk2Splunk_SSL_3rdPartyCA

I have followed the above article and have noticed that one copies the private server key to all the forwarders in said example (myServerCertificate.pem). If one of the forwarders is compromised then one can impersonate the same Splunk server with said server certificate.

This surely must be wrong?

0 Karma

kristian_kolb
Ultra Champion

Perhaps things have changed a little bit since the article was written, but we deploy (to forwarders) a forwarder.pem (containing a forwarder certificate and its key in one file), and the cacert.pem, which is the CA certificate ONLY (not the key), which is used to verify the indexers.

The indexer has a similar setup; indexer.pem (cert + key) cacert.pem (cert)

This works well, and for log forwarding this can be deployed in an app. Setting up certificates for handling the deployment traffic cannot (obviously) be done through a deployed app.

Hope this helps,

Kristian

0 Karma

kristian_kolb
Ultra Champion

Aah. Sorry for my misunderstanding. I just wanted to clarify that you do not HAVE to do it that way. Perhaps you did once - though it sounds rather weak from a security standpoint.

/k

0 Karma

ephemeric
Contributor

No. What I'm saying is there is a gaping security hole in the article.

0 Karma
Got questions? Get answers!

Join the Splunk Community Slack to learn, troubleshoot, and make connections with fellow Splunk practitioners in real time!

Meet up IRL or virtually!

Join Splunk User Groups to connect and learn in-person by region or remotely by topic or industry.

Get Updates on the Splunk Community!

Event Series May & June: From Network Visibility to Service Intelligence

Unifying the Network: Moving from Alert Noise to Service Intelligence with Splunk ITSI In today’s hybrid ...

Global Splunk User Group Events: May + June 2026

Your Splunk Community Awaits: Discover Upcoming User Group Events Worldwide    Staying ahead in the fast-paced ...

Why Splunk Customers Should Attend Cisco Live 2026 Las Vegas

Why Splunk Customers Should Attend Cisco Live 2026 Las Vegas     Cisco Live 2026 is almost here, and this ...