Kubevirt
CVE-2023-26484
HIGH
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A01:2025 - Broken Access Control
ASVS 5.0
V8 - Authorization Authorization logic validation
MITRE ATT&CK
1 technique across 1 tactic: Privilege Escalation The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up. |
| Impact | CVSS score of 8.2 (HIGH). Attack characteristics: network attack vector, high complexity, low privileges required, no user interaction not required. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | A remote attacker could bypass authorization checks to access restricted resources by sending crafted requests to the affected application. |
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Alert meAnalysisAI
KubeVirt is a virtual machine management add-on for Kubernetes. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.2), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable. No vendor patch available.
RemediationAI
No vendor patch is available at time of analysis. Monitor vendor advisories for updates. Review and test authorization logic, implement consistent access control checks, use centralized authorization framework.
Affected Packages
Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)
Affects your stack
Affects 1 package in go
Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.
Technical ContextAI · show details
This vulnerability is classified as Incorrect Authorization (CWE-863), which allows attackers to bypass authorization checks to access restricted resources. KubeVirt is a virtual machine management add-on for Kubernetes. In versions 0.59.0 and prior, if a malicious user has taken over a Kubernetes node where virt-handler (the KubeVirt node-daemon) is running, the virt-handler service account can be used to modify all node specs. This can be misused to lure-in system-level-privileged components which can, for instance, read all secrets on the cluster, or can exec into pods on other nodes. This way, a compromised node can be used to elevate privileges beyond the node until potentially having full privileged access to the whole cluster. The simplest way to exploit this, once a user could compromise a specific node, is to set with the virt-handler service account all other nodes to unschedulable and simply wait until system-critical components with high privileges appear on its node. No patches are available as of time of publication. As a workaround, gatekeeper users can add a webhook which will block the virt-handler service account to modify the spec of a node. Affected products include: Kubevirt.
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Severity by source
AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N
Primary rating from NVD · only source for this CVE.
CVSS VectorNVD
DescriptionNVD
KubeVirt is a virtual machine management add-on for Kubernetes. In versions 0.59.0 and prior, if a malicious user has taken over a Kubernetes node where virt-handler (the KubeVirt node-daemon) is running, the virt-handler service account can be used to modify all node specs. This can be misused to lure-in system-level-privileged components which can, for instance, read all secrets on the cluster, or can exec into pods on other nodes. This way, a compromised node can be used to elevate privileges beyond the node until potentially having full privileged access to the whole cluster. The simplest way to exploit this, once a user could compromise a specific node, is to set with the virt-handler service account all other nodes to unschedulable and simply wait until system-critical components with high privileges appear on its node. No patches are available as of time of publication. As a workaround, gatekeeper users can add a webhook which will block the virt-handler service account to modify the spec of a node.
Threat Intelligence Overview
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
GitHub
How this decision was reached
The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.
What every action level means
SSVC AssessmentENISA
Priority Score
Attack Technique
Authentication bypass attacks exploit flaws in the verification mechanisms that control access to systems and applications.
Affected Products (CPE)NVD
KubeVirt is a virtual machine management add-on for Kubernetes. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.5), this vulnerability is no
KubeVirt is a virtual machine management add-on for Kubernetes. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.9), this vulnerability is
Kubevirt/virt-cdi-importer, versions 1.4.0 to 1.5.3 inclusive, were reported to disable TLS certificate validation when
A path traversal vulnerability in KubeVirt versions up to 0.56 (and 0.55.1) on all platforms allows a user able to confi
A flaw was found in kubevirt 0.29 and earlier. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.9), this vulnerability is remotely exploi
Local privilege boundary bypass in KubeVirt's safepath package lets an attacker who controls a virt-launcher pod trick t
Denial of service in KubeVirt lets an authenticated user with permission to create VirtualMachineInstance (VMI) objects
KubeVirt's virt-handler domain notify server allows a compromised virt-launcher process to forge lifecycle events for an
A flaw was found in the containerized-data-importer in virt-cdi-cloner, version 1.4, where the host-assisted cloning fea
Server-side request forgery in KubeVirt's virt-api port-forward handler allows authenticated Kubernetes users with kubev
An issue in kubevirt kubevirt v1.2.0 and before allows a local attacker to execute arbitrary code via a crafted command
Symlink-following in KubeVirt's virt-handler permits a container-level attacker to overwrite arbitrary host files and ch
Exploit-DB