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RancherApplication · Suse

CVE-2021-36784

HIGH · 7.2 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-05-02
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 2.5.13 / 2.6.4 or later.
See remediation →
78/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable Zero-click

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 · unedited
A Improper Privilege Management vulnerability in SUSE Rancher allows users with the restricted-admin role to escalate to full admin. This issue affects: SUSE Rancher Rancher versions prior to 2.5.13; Rancher versions prior to 2.6.4.

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 confidence

This is an improper privilege management vulnerability in SUSE Rancher that allows users assigned the restricted-admin role to escalate their privileges to full administrator access. The vulnerability stems from insufficient enforcement of role boundaries in the Rancher access control system.

MitigationUpgrade Rancher to version 2.5.13 or later (for 2.5.x) or 2.6.4 or later (for 2.6.x) to remediate this privilege escalation vulnerability.

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
RancherApplication
Affected:< 2.5.13>= 2.6.0, < 2.6.4

CVSS 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
High
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Determine installed Rancher version
    Run `kubectl get deployment rancher -n cattle-system -o jsonpath='{.spec.template.spec.containers[0].image}'` or check the Rancher UI under the Help/About section to identify the exact version number
    Affected if The version is less than 2.5.13 OR greater than or equal to 2.6.0 but less than 2.6.4
  2. Verify restricted-admin role exists
    Inspect the Rancher authentication and authorization settings by querying the Kubernetes cluster for ClusterRoleBindings or Rancher role definitions that include 'restricted-admin'
    Affected if The restricted-admin role is defined in the Rancher access control configuration
  3. Identify users assigned restricted-admin role
    Query ClusterRoleBindings or Rancher user role assignments using `kubectl get clusterrolebindings -o wide` or via the Rancher API to list users with the restricted-admin role
    Affected if Any users are currently assigned the restricted-admin role in the affected version ranges
  4. Check for privilege escalation indicators
    Review audit logs or examine whether users with restricted-admin role have gained access to resources or namespaces they should not have access to based on the restricted-admin role definition
    Affected if Users with restricted-admin role have obtained full administrator capabilities or access to resources outside their intended scope

You are affected if your Rancher version falls below 2.5.13 or is between 2.6.0 and 2.6.4 AND you have users assigned the restricted-admin role in your environment.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 2.5.13 / 2.6.4 or later
Fixed in 2.5.132.6.4
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Rancher to version 2.5.13 or later (for 2.5.x) or 2.6.4 or later (for 2.6.x) to remediate this privilege escalation vulnerability.

Recommended fix High confidence

Rancher 2.5.13+ or 2.6.4+ (depending on your current minor version branch)

  1. 1. Back up your Rancher installation andetcd data before starting the upgrade
  2. 2. For Rancher 2.5.x deployments: Upgrade to Rancher version 2.5.13 or later
  3. 3. For Rancher 2.6.x deployments: Upgrade to Rancher version 2.6.4 or later
  4. 4. After upgrade, verify that restricted-admin role users can no longer escalate to full admin privileges
  5. 5. Test that existing admin functionality continues to work as expected
Caveat Review Rancher release notes for any breaking changes between your current version and target version before upgrading

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Rancher Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,490
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,984.

Scan for this in your stack

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2021-36784 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data