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Csi ProxyApplication · Kubernetes

CVE-2023-3893

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-11-03
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 1.1.2 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
A security issue was discovered in Kubernetes where a user that can create pods on Windows nodes running kubernetes-csi-proxy may be able to escalate to admin privileges on those nodes. Kubernetes clusters are only affected if they include Windows nodes running kubernetes-csi-proxy.

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 privilege escalation vulnerability in Kubernetes allows users with pod creation permissions on Windows nodes running kubernetes-csi-proxy to gain administrator privileges on those nodes. The issue stems from improper privilege handling in the kubernetes-csi-proxy component on Windows, where pod creators may inherit elevated token privileges.

MitigationRestrict pod creation permissions on Windows nodes using Kubernetes RBAC policies and update kubernetes-csi-proxy to the latest patched version when available. Consider isolating Windows nodes to dedicated node pools with limited user access.

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
Csi ProxyApplication
Affected:<= 1.1.2= 2.0.0

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 Windows nodes in the cluster
    Run 'kubectl get nodes -o wide' and look for nodes with OS Type Windows or check node labels for 'kubernetes.io/os=windows'
    Affected if The cluster contains Windows nodes
  2. Check if kubernetes-csi-proxy is installed on Windows nodes
    On Windows nodes, check for the csi-proxy service using 'Get-Service csi-proxy' in PowerShell or verify the binary exists in the system
    Affected if kubernetes-csi-proxy is installed and running on Windows nodes
  3. Determine the installed kubernetes-csi-proxy version
    Run 'csi-proxy --version' or check the binary version property on Windows nodes. Compare against affected versions: <=1.1.2 or =2.0.0
    Affected if The installed version is 1.1.2 or earlier, or exactly 2.0.0
  4. Check RBAC permissions for pod creation on Windows nodes
    Review Kubernetes RBAC ClusterRoleBindings and RoleBindings: run 'kubectl auth can-i create pods' for the relevant users/groups, or inspect ClusterRoles with permissions to create pods on specific node selectors
    Affected if Users or service accounts have permissions to create pods scheduled to Windows nodes
  5. Verify the vulnerability condition exists
    Confirm that both conditions are true: (1) Windows nodes are present with csi-proxy running, and (2) non-admin users have pod creation permissions that could schedule pods to Windows nodes
    Affected if Both Windows nodes with csi-proxy AND pod creation permissions for users exist in the cluster

A user is affected if their cluster has Windows nodes running kubernetes-csi-proxy version 1.1.2 or earlier, or version 2.0.0, AND users have pod creation permissions that could schedule pods to those Windows nodes.

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 a release after 1.1.2
Interim mitigation

Restrict pod creation permissions on Windows nodes using Kubernetes RBAC policies and update kubernetes-csi-proxy to the latest patched version when available. Consider isolating Windows nodes to dedicated node pools with limited user access.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

kubernetes-csi-proxy version 1.1.3 or later, or version 2.0.1 or later

  1. 1. Identify all Windows nodes in the Kubernetes cluster running kubernetes-csi-proxy
  2. 2. Check the current version of kubernetes-csi-proxy on affected nodes using: `kubectl get nodes -o wide` and inspecting node details
  3. 3. Upgrade kubernetes-csi-proxy to version 1.1.3 or higher for the 1.x branch, or version 2.0.1 or higher for the 2.x branch
  4. 4. For Kubernetes clusters, ensure the kubelet configuration on Windows nodes is updated to use the fixed csi-proxy version
  5. 5. After upgrade, verify the pods running on Windows nodes do not have elevated privileges beyond what is intended
  6. 6. Review RBAC policies to ensure users cannot create pods with escalated privileges on Windows nodes
Caveat Review release notes for any breaking changes between 1.1.2 and 1.1.3, or between 2.0.0 and 2.0.1, particularly around CSI driver compatibility

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

Fix this in Csi Proxy Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
22.0 hours of engineering $3,860
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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-2023-3893 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
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