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KubernetesApplication

CVE-2023-2431

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-06-16
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 1.24.14 / 1.25.10 or later.
See remediation →
57/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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 security issue was discovered in Kubelet that allows pods to bypass the seccomp profile enforcement. Pods that use localhost type for seccomp profile but specify an empty profile field, are affected by this issue. In this scenario, this vulnerability allows the pod to run in unconfined (seccomp disabled) mode. This bug affects Kubelet.

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 seccomp profile enforcement bypass in Kubelet where pods specifying 'localhost' type seccomp profile with an empty profile field incorrectly run in unconfined mode (seccomp disabled) instead of having profile enforcement applied or being rejected.

MitigationUpdate Kubelet to properly handle the empty profile field case by either enforcing a default restrictive seccomp profile or rejecting the pod configuration rather than running it unconfined.

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
KubernetesApplication
Affected:< 1.24.14>= 1.25.0, < 1.25.10>= 1.26.0, < 1.26.5>= 1.27.0, < 1.27.2
FedoraOperating system
Affected:= 38

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
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
High
Availability
None

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

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 kubelet version
    Run 'kubelet --version' on each node, or check the kubelet service/process version using 'ps -ef | grep kubelet' or check the package version via your package manager (e.g., 'rpm -q kubelet' on RHEL-based systems, 'dpkg -l kubelet' on Debian-based)
    Affected if The kubelet version falls outside these fixed versions: 1.24.14+, 1.25.10+, 1.26.5+, 1.27.2+ (i.e., it is less than 1.24.14, or between 1.25.0-1.25.9, 1.26.0-1.26.4, or 1.27.0-1.27.1)
  2. Identify pods using localhost-type seccomp with empty profile
    Run 'kubectl get pods --all-namespaces -o jsonpath={range .items[*]}{.metadata.namespace}{"\t"}{.metadata.name}{"\t"}{.spec.securityContext.seccompProfile.type}{"\t"}{.spec.securityContext.seccompProfile.localhostProfile}{"\n"}{end}' to list pods with seccomp profiles, then identify any where type is 'localhost' but localhostProfile is empty or not set
    Affected if Any pods exist where seccompProfile.type equals 'localhost' and seccompProfile.localhostProfile is empty, null, or not specified
  3. Verify actual seccomp mode applied to potentially affected pods
    Run 'kubectl get pod <pod-name> -n <namespace> -o jsonpath={.status.containerStatuses[*].securityContext.seccompProfile}' for pods identified in step 2, or inspect node-level using 'crictl inspect <container-id> | grep -i seccomp' to see the actual seccomp profile being applied
    Affected if The actual seccomp profile shows as 'unconfined' or 'runtime/default' instead of being rejected or having a proper localhost profile applied

You are affected if your kubelet version is in the vulnerable range AND you have pods using 'localhost' type seccomp with an empty profile field, which are running with seccomp disabled rather than being rejected or properly restricted.

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 1.24.14 / 1.25.10 / 1.26.5 or later
Fixed in 1.24.141.25.101.26.5
Interim mitigation

Update Kubelet to properly handle the empty profile field case by either enforcing a default restrictive seccomp profile or rejecting the pod configuration rather than running it unconfined.

Recommended fix High confidence

1.24.14, 1.25.10, 1.26.5, or 1.27.2 (depending on your current minor version)

  1. Upgrade Kubernetes to version 1.24.14 or later if currently on 1.24.x
  2. Upgrade Kubernetes to version 1.25.10 or later if currently on 1.25.x
  3. Upgrade Kubernetes to version 1.26.5 or later if currently on 1.26.x
  4. Upgrade Kubernetes to version 1.27.2 or later if currently on 1.27.x
  5. For Fedora 38 systems, apply the kubelet security update once released via 'dnf update' or 'dnf update --security'
  6. After upgrading, verify seccomp profile enforcement is working correctly by checking pod specifications and testing with pods that have seccomp profiles defined
Caveat Standard Kubernetes upgrade precautions apply: review release notes for breaking changes, test in staging first, and ensure cluster components are compatible

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

Fix this in Kubernetes Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation6.0 h
  • Implementation12.0 h
  • Testing10.0 h
  • Review / QA5.0 h
33.0 hours of engineering $5,760
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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-2023-2431 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