Privilege escalation in Kubernetes Operations (kOps)

1) Improper Privilege Management

EUVDB-ID: #VU77653

Risk: Medium

CVSSv3.1: 7 [CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:U/RL:O/RC:C]

CVE-ID: CVE-2023-1943

CWE-ID: CWE-269 - Improper Privilege Management

Exploit availability: No

Description

The vulnerability allows a remote user to escalate privileges within the cluster.

The vulnerability exists due to improper privilege management in kOps with the GCP Provider running in Gossip Mode. A remote user can abuse the Node service account credentials, used by a container running in the cluster, to retrieve sensitive information from the state storage bucket and escalate to cluster-admin permissions.

Mitigation

Install updates from vendor's website.

Vulnerable software versions

Kubernetes Operations (kOps): 1.25.0 - 1.26.1

External links

http://github.com/kubernetes/kops/issues/15539

Q & A

Can this vulnerability be exploited remotely?

Yes. This vulnerability can be exploited by a remote authenticated user via the local network (LAN).

Is there known malware, which exploits this vulnerability?

No. We are not aware of malware exploiting this vulnerability.