KubevirtApplication
CVE-2020-1701
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 · uneditedA flaw was found in the KubeVirt main virt-handler versions before 0.26.0 regarding the access permissions of virt-handler. An attacker with access to create VMs could attach any secret within their namespace, allowing them to read the contents of that secret.
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 confidenceA flaw in KubeVirt virt-handler versions before 0.26.0 allows any user with VM creation permissions in a namespace to attach and read any secret within that namespace, bypassing intended access controls.
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
KubevirtApplication
< 0.26.0CVSS 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
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/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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Identify KubeVirt installation versionQuery the KubeVirt operator or custom resource to retrieve the installed version (e.g., kubectl get kubevirt -n kubevirt -o jsonpath='{.status.observedVersion}' or inspect the KubeVirt operator version)Affected if The installed KubeVirt version is before 0.26.0
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Confirm virt-handler component versionCheck the virt-handler DaemonSet or deployment version running in the cluster (e.g., kubectl get deployment -n kubevirt virt-handler -o jsonpath='{.spec.template.spec.containers[0].image}')Affected if The virt-handler image version is before 0.26.0
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Identify users with VM creation permissionsReview RBAC bindings in each namespace to identify users, groups, or service accounts granted permissions to create VirtualMachine resources (e.g., kubectl auth can i create virtualmachines -n <namespace> for specific users)Affected if Any non-admin user has create permissions on VirtualMachine resources in a namespace containing secrets
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Check for secrets in namespaces with VM creation accessList secrets in namespaces where users have VM creation permissions (e.g., kubectl get secrets -n <namespace>)Affected if Secrets exist in namespaces where users have VM creation permissions, enabling the bypassed access to those secrets
The environment is affected if KubeVirt or virt-handler is running a version before 0.26.0 AND there are users with VirtualMachine create permissions in namespaces that contain secrets.
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 data0.26.0
Upgrade virt-handler to version 0.26.0 or later to obtain the patched access control logic.
Fix this in Kubevirt
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,968.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-1701 — 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-2020-1701 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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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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