CVE-2024-3154: Cri-o: arbitrary command injection via pod annotation

Published Apr 1, 2024
·
Updated

Withdrawn Advisory

This advisory has been withdrawn because it was incorrectly attributed to runc. Please see the issue here for more information.

Original Description

A flaw was found in cri-o, where an arbitrary systemd property can be injected via a Pod annotation. Any user who can create a pod with an arbitrary annotation may perform an arbitrary action on the host system. This issue has its root in how runc handles Config Annotations lists.

Other sources

Impact On CRI-O, it looks like an arbitrary systemd property can be injected via a Pod annotation: --- apiVersion: v1 kind: Pod metadata: name: poc-arbitrary-systemd-property-injection annotations: # I believe that ExecStart with an arbitrary command works here too, # but I haven't figured out how to marshalize the ExecStart struct to gvariant string. org.systemd.property.SuccessAction: "'poweroff-force'" spec: containers: - name: hello image: quay.io/podman/hello

This means that any user who can create a pod with an arbitrary annotation may perform an arbitrary action on the host system.

Tested with CRI-O v1.24 on minikube. I didn't test the latest v1.29 because it is incompatible with minikube: https://github.com/kubernetes/minikube/pull/18367

Thanks to Cédric Clerget (GitHub ID @cclerget) for finding out that CRI-O just passes pod annotations to OCI annotations: https://github.com/opencontainers/runc/pull/3923#discussionr1532292536

CRI-O has to filter out annotations that have the prefix "org.systemd.property."

See also: - https://github.com/opencontainers/runtime-spec/blob/main/features.md#unsafe-annotations-in-configjson - https://github.com/opencontainers/runc/pull/4217

Workarounds Unfortunately, the only workarounds would involve an external mutating webhook to disallow these annotations

References

GitHub

CRI-O could allow a remote authenticated attacker to execute arbitrary commands on the system, caused by an arbitrary systemd property injection. By sending a specially crafted request using pod annotation, an attacker could exploit this vulnerability to execute arbitrary commands on the system.

IBM

Cri-o: arbitrary command injection via pod annotation

Microsoft

On CRI-O, it looks like an arbitrary systemd property can be injected via a Pod annotation. This means that any user who can create a pod with an arbitrary annotation may perform an arbitrary action on the host system.

References:

https://github.com/opencontainers/runc/pull/3923#discussionr1538109353 https://github.com/cri-o/cri-o/security/advisories/GHSA-2cgq-h8xw-2v5j

Red Hat

Affected Software

9 affected componentsFixes available
go/github.com/cri-o/cri-o<=1.27.5
1.27.6
go/github.com/cri-o/cri-o>=1.28.0<=1.28.5
1.28.6
go/github.com/cri-o/cri-o>=1.29.0<=1.29.3
1.29.4
go/github.com/opencontainers/runc<1.2.0-rc.1
1.2.0-rc.1
redhat/cri-o<1.30.0
1.30.0
redhat/cri-o<1.29.4
1.29.4
redhat/cri-o<1.27.6
1.27.6
Microsoft cbl2 cri-o 1.22.3-14
Microsoft cbl2 cri-o 1.22.3-2

Event History

Apr 26, 2024
CVE Published
via MITRE·03:12 AM
Data Sourced
via MITRE·03:12 AM
DescriptionSeverityWeakness
Data Sourced
via NVD·04:15 AM
DescriptionSeverityWeakness
Advisory Published
via GitHub·06:30 AM
Apr 30, 2024
Withdrawn
via GitHub·09:37 AM
May 31, 2024
Data Sourced
via Microsoft·07:00 AM
DescriptionSeverityWeakness
Data Sourced
via Microsoft·07:00 AM
Affected Software
Updated
via Microsoft·07:00 AM
DescriptionSeverity
Feb 4, 2025
Data Sourced
via IBM·12:00 AM
DescriptionAffected Software

Parent advisories

This vulnerability appears in the following advisories.

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Frequently Asked Questions

1

What was the original description of CVE-2024-3154?

CVE-2024-3154 was originally described as a flaw found in cri-o that allowed for arbitrary systemd manipulation.

2

Which versions of cri-o are affected by CVE-2024-3154?

CVE-2024-3154 affects cri-o versions up to 1.27.5, between 1.28.0 and 1.28.5, and between 1.29.0 and 1.29.3.

3

What is the recommended fix for CVE-2024-3154?

To fix CVE-2024-3154, upgrade cri-o to version 1.27.6, 1.28.6, or 1.29.4, or use the appropriate version for other affected packages.

4

Is there any specific software or products impacted by CVE-2024-3154?

Yes, IBM Concert Software versions 1.0.0 to 1.0.1 are also impacted by CVE-2024-3154.

5

What actions have been taken regarding CVE-2024-3154's advisory status?

The advisory for CVE-2024-3154 has been withdrawn due to incorrect attribution to runc.

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