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Improper Privilege ManagementWeakness · CWE-269

CVE-2023-32197

MEDIUM · 6.6 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-04-16
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
72/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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 Improper Privilege Management vulnerability in SUSE rancher in RoleTemplateobjects when external=true is set can lead to privilege escalation in specific scenarios.This issue affects rancher: from 2.7.0 before 2.7.14, from 2.8.0 before 2.8.5.

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

This is an improper privilege management vulnerability in SUSE Rancher involving RoleTemplate objects. When the 'external=true' attribute is set on RoleTemplate objects, it can allow privilege escalation in specific scenarios, potentially allowing authenticated users to gain elevated permissions beyond what they should have.

MitigationUpgrade Rancher to version 2.7.14 or 2.8.5 and later to receive the patch. Additionally, audit existing RoleTemplate objects for the 'external=true' setting and review user role assignments for any unauthorized privilege escalation.

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
High
Privileges
High
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:H/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 Rancher installation version
    Access the Rancher UI and check the version displayed in the footer, or use the CLI: 'kubectl get configmap -n cattle-system rancher-version -o jsonpath="{.data.rancher-version}"'
    Affected if The installed version is below 2.7.14 or below 2.8.5 (versions prior to the patch)
  2. Locate RoleTemplate objects in the cluster
    Run: 'kubectl get roletemplates -A' to list all RoleTemplate objects in the cluster
    Affected if Any RoleTemplate objects exist in the cluster
  3. Check for RoleTemplates with external=true attribute
    Run: 'kubectl get roletemplates -A -o jsonpath="{.items[?(@.metadata.annotations.external==\"true\")].metadata.name}"' or inspect each RoleTemplate for the 'external' annotation or label set to true
    Affected if Any RoleTemplate has the 'external=true' attribute configured
  4. Examine role bindings and cluster role bindings
    Run: 'kubectl get clusterrolebindings -o wide' and 'kubectl get rolebindings -A' to review which users and groups are bound to roles derived from external RoleTemplates
    Affected if Users or groups are bound to roles associated with RoleTemplates marked as external=true

You are affected if your Rancher version is below 2.7.14 or 2.8.5 AND you have RoleTemplate objects configured with the 'external=true' attribute in your environment.

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
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Upgrade Rancher to version 2.7.14 or 2.8.5 and later to receive the patch. Additionally, audit existing RoleTemplate objects for the 'external=true' setting and review user role assignments for any unauthorized privilege escalation.

Recommended fix High confidence

Rancher 2.7.14 or 2.8.5 (depending on your current branch)

  1. Back up your Rancher environment and etcd data before upgrading
  2. Upgrade Rancher to version 2.7.14 if running 2.7.x branch, or to version 2.8.5 if running 2.8.x branch
  3. After upgrade, verify that RoleTemplate objects with external=true no longer allow privilege escalation beyond their intended scope
  4. Confirm normal Rancher functionality and RBAC operations are working correctly
Caveat Review SUSE Rancher release notes for any breaking changes between your current version and the target upgrade version

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

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,480
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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-2023-32197 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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