Attack ChainAIDerived
Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain
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AccessObtain low-priv OpenShift account with EndpointSlice write
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DeliveryCreate Service and FQDN EndpointSlice pointing at metadata host
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ExploitSend HTTP request through Router to that Service
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ExecutionRouter resolves FQDN and proxies to 169.254.169.254
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PersistReceive cloud instance IAM credentials in response
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ImpactPivot into cloud account using stolen credentials
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A01:2025 - Broken Access Control
ASVS 5.0
V4 - API and Web Service URL allowlisting, SSRF prevention
MITRE ATT&CK
2 techniques across 2 tactics: Initial Access, Credential Access The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up. |
| Exploitation Conditions | Requires an authenticated OpenShift user (PR:L) with RBAC permission to create or update EndpointSlice (and typically Service/Route) objects in at least one namespace on a target OpenShift Container Platform 4 cluster; the cluster must be deployed on a cloud provider exposing an instance metadata service reachable from the router pods (e.g., AWS, Azure, GCP) - on-premise clusters without such an endpoint are not exploitable for credential disclosure. The attack uses an FQDN-typed EndpointSlice resolving to the metadata IP, which specifically bypasses the prior IP-validation mitigation, so clusters that had the earlier IP-block fix remain vulnerable until this fix is applied. No user interaction is required (UI:N), and exploitation is constrained to information disclosure (C:H/I:N/A:N) - the attacker cannot directly modify router behavior or cause denial of service through this flaw. |
| Impact | The CVSS 7.7 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N) reflects a network-reachable, low-complexity attack requiring low privileges, with a scope change and high confidentiality impact - consistent with SSRF leaking cloud credentials across a trust boundary. The real-world risk depends heavily on who holds EndpointSlice write permission: in well-segmented clusters this is restricted to cluster admins or specific namespaces, but multi-tenant OpenShift deployments commonly grant project-level users sufficient permissions to create Services and Endpoints, making PR:L realistic. EPSS data was not provided and CISA KEV does not list this CVE, so there is no public exploit identified at time of analysis; however, SSRF-to-metadata is a well-understood, automatable pattern, and obtaining cloud IAM credentials from a compromised cluster typically enables significant lateral movement. Treat this as a high priority on cloud-hosted OpenShift clusters that grant broad EndpointSlice/Service permissions; on-premise clusters without a metadata service are materially less exposed. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | An attacker with a low-privileged OpenShift account that holds EndpointSlice write permission in any namespace creates a Service plus an EndpointSlice whose addressType is FQDN and whose endpoint resolves (via attacker-controlled DNS or a public record) to 169.254.169.254. The attacker then sends an HTTP request through the cluster's exposed Router to a route mapped at that Service; the router proxies the request to the cloud metadata endpoint and returns IAM credentials for the underlying node, which the attacker uses to pivot into the cloud account. |
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Alert meAnalysisAIv1 – May 29, 2026
Server-side request forgery in Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4's Router component allows authenticated users with EndpointSlice write permissions to coerce the router into proxying requests to cloud provider instance metadata endpoints (e.g., 169.254.169.254), exposing instance credentials and sensitive metadata. The flaw bypasses prior IP-address-based validation by abusing FQDN-backed EndpointSlices that resolve to metadata services. No public exploit identified at time of analysis, and the issue is not present on CISA KEV.
RemediationAI
Patch available per vendor advisory: apply the OpenShift Container Platform 4 update referenced in https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-42965 for your supported channel, and track the Bugzilla entry https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2483184 for the exact z-stream fix versions. Until patched, restrict EndpointSlice and Services write RBAC to trusted administrators via cluster role audits (revoke endpointslices/endpoints create/update from project-editor and custom roles where feasible), accepting that this may break workflows requiring user-managed external service definitions. On AWS, enforce IMDSv2 with hop-limit 1 on router nodes to render token-less metadata requests from HAProxy unusable; on Azure/GCP, apply equivalent metadata-access hardening or use a node-level egress firewall to block 169.254.169.254 and fd00:ec2::254 from router pods, noting that this may break legitimate node-bootstrap or cloud-controller flows if misapplied. Add an admission policy (e.g., Kyverno/OPA Gatekeeper) to reject EndpointSlice objects whose addresses or FQDNs resolve to link-local or cloud metadata ranges as a defense-in-depth control.
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Technical ContextAI · show details
OpenShift Router is the HAProxy-based ingress component in Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4, responsible for routing external traffic to in-cluster Services. Services in Kubernetes can be backed by EndpointSlice objects, which may specify endpoints by IP or by FQDN; the router resolves these endpoints to forward traffic. This vulnerability is a classic CWE-918 Server-Side Request Forgery: prior hardening blocked link-local and metadata IPs (e.g., 169.254.169.254 on AWS/Azure/GCP) at the IP layer, but the FQDN code path performs DNS resolution at request time, allowing an attacker-controlled hostname to resolve to those same restricted addresses and bypass the validation. Cloud instance metadata services typically expose IAM credentials, user-data, and configuration that can be pivoted into broader cloud account compromise.
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Severity by source
AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
Primary rating from NVD.
CVSS VectorNVD
Lifecycle Timeline
2DescriptionNVD
A flaw was found in the OpenShift Router. A user with EndpointSlice write access can exploit this vulnerability by creating a Service backed by an FQDN (Fully Qualified Domain Name) EndpointSlice that resolves to a cloud metadata endpoint. This allows the router to proxy requests to the cloud metadata endpoint, leading to the disclosure of instance credentials and other sensitive metadata. This bypasses previous security measures for validating IP addresses.
Executive ViewAI
OpenShift 4 deployments face insider-accessible cloud credential exposure through a Router component vulnerability requiring immediate permission restrictions. Organizations with delegated cluster access risk credential theft that could compromise underlying cloud infrastructure. Patch unavailability necessitates interim containment controls.
No vendor-released patch identified at time of analysis. Interim mitigations: Restrict EndpointSlice write permissions to privileged administrators exclusively; deploy network policies blocking 169.254.169.254 and cloud metadata endpoint access from router namespace; enable audit logging for all EndpointSlice object modifications; implement credential rotation schedules for cloud provider instance roles; enable IMDSv2 on cloud provider infrastructure where available.
Threat Intelligence Overview
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
Server-Side Request Forgery exploits applications that fetch remote resources based on user-supplied URLs.
Affected Products (CPE)NVD
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EUVD-2026-33275
GHSA-76ww-43j5-78x5
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
Vulnrichment
VulDB
Exploit-DB