CVE-2022-29179
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 · uneditedCilium is open source software for providing and securing network connectivity and loadbalancing between application workloads. Prior to versions 1.9.16, 1.10.11, and 1.11.15, if an attacker is able to perform a container escape of a container running as root on a host where Cilium is installed, the attacker can escalate privileges to cluster admin by using Cilium's Kubernetes service account. The problem has been fixed and the patch is available in versions 1.9.16, 1.10.11, and 1.11.5. There are no known workarounds available.
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 confidenceIf an attacker achieves container escape from a container running as root on a host with Cilium installed, they can obtain cluster admin privileges by exploiting Cilium's Kubernetes service account. This is a privilege escalation from host compromise to full cluster compromise.
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< 1.9.16>= 1.10.0, < 1.10.11>= 1.11.0, < 1.11.5CVSS 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
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- High
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Changed
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Confirm Cilium is installed on the hostRun 'cilium version' or 'cilium-agent --version' from the host. Alternatively, check for Cilium pods in the kube-system namespace: 'kubectl get pods -n kube-system | grep cilium'Affected if Cilium is present on the host or in the cluster
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Identify the installed Cilium versionExecute 'cilium version' or 'cilium-agent --version' and note the version number. For managed environments, check the Cilium Operator or Agent pod images: 'kubectl get pods -n kube-system -l k8s-app=cilium -o jsonpath="{.items[*].spec.containers[*].image}"'Affected if The version falls within < 1.9.16, >= 1.10.0 < 1.10.11, or >= 1.11.0 < 1.11.5
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Inspect the Cilium service account RBAC bindingsRun 'kubectl get clusterrolebinding -o wide | grep cilium' and 'kubectl get clusterrole cilium -o yaml' to examine what permissions the Cilium service account holds, specifically whether it is bound to cluster-admin or has broad cluster-wide privilegesAffected if The Cilium service account has cluster-admin role or cluster-wide write permissions that could be exploited post-escape
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Check for privileged containers running as rootRun 'kubectl get pods --all-namespaces -o jsonpath="{.items[?(@.spec.securityContext.runAsUser==0)]}"' or inspect pod specs for 'privileged: true' in the security contextAffected if Any pods are running with privileged containers or as root user, which could serve as the initial escape vector
You are affected if Cilium is installed with a version less than 1.9.16, between 1.10.0-1.10.10, or between 1.11.0-1.11.4 AND the Cilium service account holds cluster-admin privileges AND an attacker could escape from a root container on a host with Cilium installed.
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.
dbcve · scoped1.9.161.10.111.11.5
Upgrade Cilium to versions 1.9.16+, 1.10.11+, or 1.11.5+ to patch the vulnerability. No workarounds exist.
Cilium 1.9.16, 1.10.11, or 1.11.5 (depending on current branch)
- Upgrade to Cilium version 1.9.16 or higher if on the 1.9.x branch
- Upgrade to Cilium version 1.10.11 or higher if on the 1.10.x branch
- Upgrade to Cilium version 1.11.5 or higher if on the 1.11.x branch
- After upgrade, verify the Cilium agent pods are running correctly using: kubectl get pods -n kube-system -l k8s-app=cilium
- Confirm the upgrade was successful by checking Cilium version: cilium version
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation2.0 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 $3,328.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2022-29179 — 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-2022-29179 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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