Vulnerability in Cilium

CVE-2023-27593

Cilium is a networking, observability, and security solution with an eBPF-based dataplane. Prior to versions 1.11.15, 1.12.8, and 1.13.1, an attacker with access to a Cilium agent pod can write to `/opt/cni/bin` due to a `hostPath` mount of that directory in the agent pod. By replacing the CNI binary with their own malicious binary and waiting for the creation of a new pod on the node, the attacker can gain access to the underlying node. The issue has been fixed and the fix is available on versions 1.11.15, 1.12.8, and 1.13.1. Some workarounds are available. Kubernetes RBAC should be used to deny users and service accounts `exec` access to Cilium agent pods. In cases where a user requires `exec` access to Cilium agent pods, but should not have access to the underlying node, no workaround is possible.

EPSS: 0.002 (12.3th percentile) — read the EPSS interpretation.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 4.4 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.

Affected products

  • Cilium — versions < 1.11.15, >= 1.12.0, < 1.12.8, >= 1.13.0, < 1.13.1

Weakness classification (CWE)

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2023-27593?
CVE-2023-27593 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Cilium, classified under Incorrect Default Permissions. CVSS score: 4.4/10. Published 2023-03-17.
How severe is CVE-2023-27593?
Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 4.4 out of 10.