Insufficiently Protected CredentialsWeakness · CWE-522

CVE-2022-45157

CRITICAL · 9.1 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-11-13
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
97/100
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 vulnerability has been identified in the way that Rancher stores vSphere's CPI (Cloud Provider Interface) and CSI (Container Storage Interface) credentials used to deploy clusters through the vSphere cloud provider. This issue leads to the vSphere CPI and CSI passwords being stored in a plaintext object inside Rancher. This vulnerability is only applicable to users that deploy clusters in vSphere environments.

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 · moderate confidence

Rancher versions prior to patch store vSphere CPI (Cloud Provider Interface) and CSI (Container Storage Interface) credentials in plaintext objects within Rancher's internal storage. This exposes sensitive authentication material used for vSphere cloud provider integration when deploying Kubernetes clusters.

MitigationImmediately rotate all vSphere credentials that may have been stored in Rancher. Review Rancher release notes for the patched version and upgrade. Audit vSphere environments for any unauthorized access during the window of exposure.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

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
Changed
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
Low
Availability
Low

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

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 Rancher installation
    Determine if Rancher is deployed in your environment by checking for the Rancher management server or querying for Rancher-related pods/services
    Affected if Rancher is installed and managing Kubernetes clusters
  2. Check Rancher version against patched release
    Obtain the installed Rancher version from the Rancher UI (About Rancher page) or via CLI: kubectl get rancher --namespace=cattle-system
    Affected if The installed version is prior to the patched version released for CVE-2022-45157
  3. Confirm vSphere cloud provider configuration
    Review Kubernetes cluster configurations managed by Rancher for vSphere cloud provider settings. Check cluster YAML or cluster provisioning configs for cloudProvider: vsphere
    Affected if Any managed cluster is configured with vSphere as the cloud provider (CPI or CSI)
  4. Inspect Rancher internal storage for credential objects
    Query Rancher's internal database or Kubernetes secrets in the cattle-system namespace for vSphere-related credentials. Look for objects containing vsphere credentials, CPI credentials, or CSI credentials
    Affected if Plaintext vSphere credentials are found in Rancher's internal storage or within cluster secret objects

You are affected if Rancher with vSphere cloud provider integration was used in any version prior to the CVE patch, as plaintext credentials may have been stored.

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.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Immediately rotate all vSphere credentials that may have been stored in Rancher. Review Rancher release notes for the patched version and upgrade. Audit vSphere environments for any unauthorized access during the window of exposure.

Have this fixed 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 help mitigating

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

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2022-45157 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2022-45157 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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