CVE-2023-2728: Bypassing enforce mountable secrets policy imposed by the ServiceAccount admission plugin

Published May 31, 2023
·
Updated

A security issue was discovered in Kubernetes where users may be able to launch containers that bypass the mountable secrets policy enforced by the ServiceAccount admission plugin when using ephemeral containers. The policy ensures pods running with a service account may only reference secrets specified in the service account’s secrets field. Kubernetes clusters are only affected if the ServiceAccount admission plugin and the *kubernetes.io/enforce-mountable-secrets* annotation are used together with ephemeral containers. This issue affects kube-apiserver. Clusters are impacted by this vulnerability if: 1. The ServiceAccount admission plugin is used. Most clusters should have this on by default as recommended in https://kubernetes.io/docs/reference/access-authn-authz/admission-controllers/#serviceaccount 2. The *kubernetes.io/enforce-mountable-secrets* annotation is used by a service account. This annotation is not added by default. 3. Pods using ephemeral containers.

Affected Software

9 affected componentsFixes available
redhat/kube-apiserver<1.27.3
1.27.3
redhat/kube-apiserver<1.26.6
1.26.6
redhat/kube-apiserver<1.25.11
1.25.11
redhat/kube-apiserver<1.24.15
1.24.15
Kubernetes kubernetes<=1.24.14
Kubernetes kubernetes>=1.25.0<=1.25.10
Kubernetes kubernetes>=1.26.0<=1.26.5
Kubernetes kubernetes>=1.27.0<=1.27.2
IBM Concert Software<=1.0.0-1.1.0

Remediation

Information

To mitigate this vulnerability, upgrade Kubernetes: https://kubernetes.io/docs/tasks/administer-cluster/cluster-management/#upgrading-a-cluster https://kubernetes.io/docs/tasks/administer-cluster/cluster-management/#upgrading-a-cluster

Event History

Jul 3, 2023
CVE Published
via MITRE·08:06 PM
Data Sourced
via MITRE·08:06 PM
RemedyDescriptionSeverityWeakness
Jan 30, 2026
Data Sourced
via IBM·12:00 AM
DescriptionAffected Software
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Frequently Asked Questions

1

What is the vulnerability ID for this issue?

The vulnerability ID for this issue is CVE-2023-2728.

2

What is the title of this vulnerability?

The title of this vulnerability is 'Users may be able to launch containers that bypass the mountable secrets policy enforced by the ServiceAccount admission plugin when using ephemeral containers'.

3

What is the severity of CVE-2023-2728?

The severity of CVE-2023-2728 is medium with a severity value of 6.5.

4

Which versions of Kubernetes are affected by CVE-2023-2728?

Kubernetes versions 1.24.14, 1.25.0 to 1.25.10, 1.26.0 to 1.26.5, and 1.27.0 to 1.27.2 are affected by CVE-2023-2728.

5

How can the bypass of the mountable secrets policy be fixed?

A fix for the bypass of the mountable secrets policy is not currently available. It is recommended to update to a patched version of Kubernetes when it becomes available.

Contact

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