CVE-2019-13209
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedRancher 2 through 2.2.4 is vulnerable to a Cross-Site Websocket Hijacking attack that allows an exploiter to gain access to clusters managed by Rancher. The attack requires a victim to be logged into a Rancher server, and then to access a third-party site hosted by the exploiter. Once that is accomplished, the exploiter is able to execute commands against the cluster's Kubernetes API with the permissions and identity of the victim.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidenceRancher 2.0 through 2.2.4 lacks proper origin validation on WebSocket connections, allowing Cross-Site Websocket Hijacking (CSWSH). An attacker hosting a malicious page can trick an authenticated Rancher user into visiting that page, then hijack the user's WebSocket connection to execute commands against the managed Kubernetes cluster with the victim's permissions.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data>= 2.0.0, <= 2.2.4CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- Required
- Scope
- Changed
- Confidentiality
- Low
- Integrity
- Low
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check Rancher version via UILog into the Rancher web interface, navigate to the settings or 'About' page (often found under the user menu or global settings), and locate the Rancher version displayed there.Affected if The displayed version is between 2.0.0 and 2.2.4 inclusive.
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Check Rancher version via APIMake an authenticated API request to the Rancher server endpoint '/v1' or '/ping' and inspect the version field in the JSON response.Affected if The version field in the API response indicates a version between 2.0.0 and 2.2.4 inclusive.
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Check Rancher version from container or podIf Rancher is running in Docker or Kubernetes, inspect the running container or pod: for Docker, run 'docker ps' and then 'docker inspect <container_id>' to find the image tag; for Kubernetes, run 'kubectl get pods -n cattle-system' and check the image associated with the rancher pod.Affected if The container image tag or version corresponds to a release between 2.0.0 and 2.2.4 inclusive.
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Check Rancher version via HelmIf Rancher was installed via Helm, run 'helm list -n cattle-system' to list the Helm release and its version, or check the values.yaml for the Rancher version tag.Affected if The Helm release version or image tag is between 2.0.0 and 2.2.4 inclusive.
If the installed Rancher version falls within the range of 2.0.0 through 2.2.4, the environment is affected by this Cross-Site WebSocket Hijacking vulnerability.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor dataUpgrade Rancher to version 2.2.5 or later which includes proper WebSocket origin validation. Until then, advise users to avoid accessing untrusted websites while logged into Rancher.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing8.0 h
- Review / QA3.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2019-13209 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2019-13209 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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