CVE-2023-41333

MEDIUM

Cilium < 1.12.14, 1.14.0-1.14.2 - Unauthenticated Policy Bypass via EndpointSelector DoesNotExist Operator

Title source: llm
STIX 2.1

Description

Cilium is a networking, observability, and security solution with an eBPF-based dataplane. An attacker with the ability to create or modify CiliumNetworkPolicy objects in a particular namespace is able to affect traffic on an entire Cilium cluster, potentially bypassing policy enforcement in other namespaces. By using a crafted `endpointSelector` that uses the `DoesNotExist` operator on the `reserved:init` label, the attacker can create policies that bypass namespace restrictions and affect the entire Cilium cluster. This includes potentially allowing or denying all traffic. This attack requires API server access, as described in the Kubernetes API Server Attacker section of the Cilium Threat Model. This issue has been resolved in Cilium versions 1.14.2, 1.13.7, and 1.12.14. As a workaround an admission webhook can be used to prevent the use of `endpointSelectors` that use the `DoesNotExist` operator on the `reserved:init` label in CiliumNetworkPolicies.

References (3)

Core 3
Core References
Mitigation, Patch, Third Party Advisory x_refsource_confirm
https://github.com/cilium/cilium/security/advisories/GHSA-4xp2-w642-7mcx
Issue Tracking, Patch x_refsource_misc
https://github.com/cilium/cilium/pull/28007

Scores

CVSS v3 6.9
EPSS 0.0041
EPSS Percentile 32.4%
Attack Vector ADJACENT_NETWORK
CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:N/A:H

CISA SSVC

Vulnrichment
Exploitation none
Automatable no
Technical Impact partial

Details

CWE
CWE-306
Status published
Products (2)
cilium/cilium < 1.12.14
cilium/cilium 1.14.0 - 1.14.2Go
Published Sep 27, 2023
Tracked Since Feb 18, 2026