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RancherApplication · Suse

CVE-2022-21953

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-02-07
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 2.5.17 / 2.6.10 or later.
See remediation →
94/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
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 Missing Authorization vulnerability in of SUSE Rancher allows authenticated user to create an unauthorized shell pod and kubectl access in the local cluster This issue affects: SUSE Rancher Rancher versions prior to 2.5.17; Rancher versions prior to 2.6.10; Rancher versions prior to 2.7.1.

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

A Missing Authorization vulnerability in SUSE Rancher allows any authenticated user to create unauthorized shell pods and gain kubectl access in the local cluster, bypassing proper authorization controls. This is a privilege escalation issue where users can exceed their granted permissions.

MitigationUpgrade SUSE Rancher to version 2.5.17 or higher, 2.6.10 or higher, or 2.7.1 or higher to receive the authorization fix.

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:>= 2.5.0, < 2.5.17>= 2.6.0, < 2.6.10>= 2.7.0, < 2.7.1

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

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/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. Identify your Rancher version
    Log into the Rancher UI and navigate to the About page (usually found in the user menu or support page), or query the Rancher API endpoint /v1/management.cattle.io.setting/ui-version
    Affected if The installed version is 2.5.0 through 2.5.16, 2.6.0 through 2.6.9, or 2.7.0
  2. Verify you have a valid Rancher user account
    Confirm you can log into Rancher with any user credentials. Check the Users and Authentication settings to see your assigned role
    Affected if You have any active Rancher user account, regardless of assigned permissions
  3. Confirm access to the local cluster
    In the Rancher UI, navigate to the local cluster (the cluster where Rancher is itself installed). Check if you can view the cluster dashboard or access cluster-level resources
    Affected if You can access the local cluster management interface in Rancher with your current user account
  4. Test shell pod creation capability
    Attempt to create a new pod in the local cluster through the Rancher UI or kubectl. Try using a container image that provides shell access (such as busybox or alpine) with a command like /bin/sh
    Affected if A user with standard or limited permissions can successfully deploy a pod with interactive shell capability in the local cluster

You are affected if your Rancher version is within the vulnerable ranges AND any authenticated user can deploy shell pods to the local cluster beyond their intended authorization scope.

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 2.5.17 / 2.6.10 / 2.7.1 or later
Fixed in 2.5.172.6.102.7.1
Interim mitigation

Upgrade SUSE Rancher to version 2.5.17 or higher, 2.6.10 or higher, or 2.7.1 or higher to receive the authorization fix.

Recommended fix High confidence

Rancher 2.5.17+, 2.6.10+, or 2.7.1+ (depending on your current major version branch)

  1. 1. Back up your existing Rancher installation and data before upgrading
  2. 2. Upgrade Rancher to version 2.5.17 or later if on the 2.5.x line, OR
  3. 3. Upgrade Rancher to version 2.6.10 or later if on the 2.6.x line, OR
  4. 4. Upgrade Rancher to version 2.7.1 or later if on the 2.7.x line
  5. 5. After upgrade, verify that the authorization controls are properly enforced for shell pod creation
Caveat Standard minor version upgrade considerations apply - review Rancher upgrade documentation for your specific version path

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

Fix this in Rancher Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
22.0 hours of engineering $3,860
Get the upgrade done

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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-2022-21953 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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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