Advanced Cluster Management For KubernetesApplication · Redhat
CVE-2023-3027
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 · uneditedThe grc-policy-propagator allows security escalation within the cluster. The propagator allows policies which contain some dynamically obtained values (instead of the policy apply a static manifest on a managed cluster) of taking advantage of cluster scoped access in a created policy. This feature does not restrict properly to lookup content from the namespace where the policy was created.
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 confidenceThe grc-policy-propagator has a namespace isolation bypass that allows privilege escalation. Policies with dynamically obtained values can bypass namespace boundaries and access cluster-scoped resources outside their intended namespace, enabling an attacker to escalate privileges within the cluster.
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
Advanced Cluster Management For KubernetesApplication
= 2.5= 2.6= 2.7CVSS 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
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Confirm Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management is installedRun 'kubectl get all -n open-cluster-management' or check for RHACM operators in 'kubectl get operators -A'. Look for the advanced-cluster-management operator or multiclusterhub resource.Affected if RHACM is not installed in the cluster, the system is not affected by this CVE.
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Identify the installed RHACM versionRun 'kubectl get multiclusterhubs.multicluster.openshift.io -A -o jsonpath='{.items[*].status.version}'' or check the CSV version in the open-cluster-management namespace with 'kubectl get csv -n open-cluster-management -o name' and inspect the version field.Affected if The installed version matches 2.5, 2.6, or 2.7 exactly, indicating the environment uses affected versions.
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Verify the grc-policy-propagator component is presentRun 'kubectl get pods -n open-cluster-management | grep -i policy-propagator' or check for the grc-policy-propagator deployment with 'kubectl get deploy -n open-cluster-management | grep policy' and confirm the component is running.Affected if The grc-policy-propagator component is deployed and running, making namespace isolation checks relevant.
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Identify policies using dynamic valuesRun 'kubectl get policies.policy.open-cluster-management.io -A -o yaml' and inspect for policies that reference '{{ hubClusterManifests }}', '{{Secrets}}', or other dynamic template placeholders in their namespaceSelector or objectTemplate definitions.Affected if Policies with dynamically obtained values or template placeholders exist, creating the specific attack surface for this vulnerability.
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Check for cross-namespace policy propagationInspect policy propagation by running 'kubectl get policyresults -A' or check PlacementRule/PlacementBinding resources to see which namespaces receive policies. Verify if policies with dynamic values are propagating beyond their source namespace.Affected if Policies with dynamic values are propagating to namespaces other than their source namespace, indicating potential namespace isolation bypass.
A system is affected if Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management version 2.5, 2.6, or 2.7 is installed with the grc-policy-propagator component running and policies using dynamic values are propagating across namespace boundaries.
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 · scopedRestrict policy propagation to the source namespace and implement proper namespace-scoped access controls for policies with dynamic values. Upgrade to the vendor-provided patched version when available.
Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.8 or later (2.9 recommended)
- Check current RHACM version using 'oc get csv -n open-cluster-management' or 'helm list -n open-cluster-management'
- Review current cluster policies and ensure no malicious policies with cluster-scoped access exist before upgrade
- Backup etcd and relevant cluster state as a precaution
- For Operator-based installation: Update the Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management operator to the latest available version in OperatorHub
- For Operator-based installation: Wait for the operator to upgrade and for all pods in open-cluster-management namespace to become ready
- For helm-based installation: Update the helm release with 'helm upgrade' to the latest available version
- Verify the grc-policy-propagator pod is running correctly after upgrade: 'oc get pods -n open-cluster-management | grep grc-policy-propagator'
- Verify the fix by checking that policy namespace lookups are now properly restricted
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
Fix this in Advanced Cluster Management For Kubernetes
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 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 $5,120.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-3027 — 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-2023-3027 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
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