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Kubewarden ControllerApplication · Linuxfoundation

CVE-2023-22645

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-04-19
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 1.6.0 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
An Improper Privilege Management vulnerability in SUSE kubewarden allows attackers to read arbitrary secrets if they get access to the ServiceAccount kubewarden-controller This issue affects: SUSE kubewarden kubewarden-controller versions prior to 1.6.0.

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

The kubewarden-controller ServiceAccount in SUSE kubewarden has improper privilege management that grants excessive permissions, allowing an attacker who gains access to this ServiceAccount to read arbitrary secrets within the cluster. This is a privilege escalation vulnerability where the service account has been assigned more permissions than required for its intended function.

MitigationUpgrade kubewarden-controller to version 1.6.0 or later to receive the patch that properly restricts the ServiceAccount's RBAC permissions and eliminates the ability to read arbitrary secrets.

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
Kubewarden ControllerApplication
Affected:< 1.6.0

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 kubewarden-controller version
    Run 'kubectl get deployment -n kubewarden-system kubewarden-controller -o jsonpath={.spec.template.spec.containers[0].image}' to get the container image, then extract the version tag
    Affected if The version is below 1.6.0
  2. Locate the kubewarden-controller ServiceAccount
    Run 'kubectl get serviceaccount -n kubewarden-system' to find the ServiceAccount name, typically 'kubewarden-controller'
    Affected if The ServiceAccount exists in kubewarden-system namespace
  3. Find RBAC bindings for the ServiceAccount
    Run 'kubectl get clusterrolebinding | grep -i kubewarden-controller' and 'kubectl get rolebinding -n kubewarden-system | grep -i kubewarden-controller' to identify associated ClusterRoleBindings and RoleBindings
    Affected if Bindings exist linking the ServiceAccount to a ClusterRole or Role
  4. Inspect the ClusterRole permissions for secrets access
    Get the ClusterRole name from the bindings above, then run 'kubectl get clusterrole <role-name> -o yaml' and examine the rules section, specifically looking for 'verbs' including 'get', 'list', or 'watch' on 'resources' including 'secrets' or '*'
    Affected if The ClusterRole grants broad secrets permissions (secrets or * with get/list/watch verbs) beyond what is necessary for the controller's function
  5. Verify cross-namespace secret access capability
    If the ClusterRole has secrets permissions with no 'namespace' restriction or uses a ClusterRole (not Role), the ServiceAccount can read secrets across all namespaces: check if 'apiGroups' includes '' (core) and 'resources' includes 'secrets' or '*' with non-restricted scope
    Affected if The permissions are at ClusterRole scope allowing access to secrets in any namespace

You are affected if kubewarden-controller version is below 1.6.0 AND its ServiceAccount is bound to a ClusterRole that grants broad secrets read permissions across namespaces.

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 1.6.0 or later
Fixed in 1.6.0
Interim mitigation

Upgrade kubewarden-controller to version 1.6.0 or later to receive the patch that properly restricts the ServiceAccount's RBAC permissions and eliminates the ability to read arbitrary secrets.

Recommended fix High confidence

1.6.0

  1. Identify the current version of kubewarden-controller running in the cluster
  2. Upgrade kubewarden-controller to version 1.6.0 or later
  3. Verify the upgrade was successful by checking the kubewarden-controller version and ensuring the pod is running

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

Fix this in Kubewarden Controller Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation3.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,600
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,560.

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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-2023-22645 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
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