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Improper Privilege ManagementWeakness · CWE-269

CVE-2024-33398

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-05-03
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable No privileges 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
There is a ClusterRole in piraeus-operator v2.5.0 and earlier which has been granted list secrets permission, which allows an attacker to impersonate the service account bound to this ClusterRole and use its high-risk privileges to list confidential information across the cluster.

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

piraeus-operator v2.5.0 and earlier contains a ClusterRole that has been granted excessive list secrets permissions. An attacker who can impersonate the service account bound to this ClusterRole can exploit these high-risk privileges to list confidential information (secrets) across the entire Kubernetes cluster.

MitigationUpgrade piraeus-operator to a version newer than v2.5.0 that removes or restricts the over-privileged ClusterRole secrets permissions. Alternatively, manually audit and modify the ClusterRole to follow least-privilege principles, removing unnecessary secrets list access.

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

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/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 piraeus-operator installation and version
    Run 'kubectl get deployment -A | grep piraeus-operator' to find the namespace, then 'kubectl get deployment -n <namespace> piraeus-operator -o jsonpath={.spec.template.spec.containers[0].image}' to get the image and derive the version. Alternatively, check Helm releases if installed via Helm with 'helm list -A' and 'helm get values <release> -n <namespace>'.
    Affected if The installed version is v2.5.0 or earlier, or the version cannot be determined but the operator is present.
  2. Find the piraeus-operator ClusterRole
    Run 'kubectl get clusterrole -A | grep -i piraeus' to list ClusterRoles with piraeus in the name. Note the ClusterRole name.
    Affected if A ClusterRole named something like 'piraeus-operator' or similar exists in the cluster.
  3. Inspect the ClusterRole for excessive secrets permissions
    Run 'kubectl get clusterrole <piraeus-clusterrole-name> -o yaml' and examine the rules section. Look for a rule with 'resources: [secrets]' and 'verbs: [list]' or '*' that applies at the cluster scope (no namespace specified).
    Affected if The ClusterRole contains a rule granting 'list' or '*' permissions on 'secrets' at cluster level (no apiGroups specified or '*' in apiGroups, and no namespace in 'namespace' field).
  4. Identify the service account bound to this ClusterRole
    Run 'kubectl get clusterrolebinding -A | grep <piraeus-clusterrole-name>' to find the ClusterRoleBinding. Then run 'kubectl get clusterrolebinding <binding-name> -o yaml' to identify the subject (service account) and the namespace it resides in.
    Affected if A ClusterRoleBinding associates the ClusterRole with a service account in the piraeus-operator namespace.
  5. Check if the service account token is accessible to potential attackers
    Review pod security settings and RBAC bindings in the piraeus-operator namespace. Run 'kubectl get sa -n <piraeus-namespace>' to list service accounts, then check if any non-admin users or other service accounts have read access to the piraeus-operator service account secret.
    Affected if The service account token (stored in a secret) can be read by principals other than cluster administrators.

You are affected if piraeus-operator v2.5.0 or earlier is installed and its ClusterRole grants list access on secrets at cluster scope to a service account that could be impersonated by an attacker.

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 piraeus-operator to a version newer than v2.5.0 that removes or restricts the over-privileged ClusterRole secrets permissions. Alternatively, manually audit and modify the ClusterRole to follow least-privilege principles, removing unnecessary secrets list access.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

piraeus-operator v2.6.0 or later (latest stable release)

  1. Identify the current piraeus-operator version running in the cluster using 'kubectl get deployment -n <namespace>' or checking your Helm release
  2. Upgrade piraeus-operator to a version higher than v2.5.0 (e.g., v2.6.0 or latest stable) using your package manager (e.g., helm upgrade or kubectl apply)
  3. Verify the upgrade was successful and the ClusterRole no longer has unnecessary list secrets permissions by running 'kubectl get clusterrole piraeus-operator -o yaml' and reviewing the rules
  4. Ensure the new ClusterRole permissions follow the principle of least privilege
Caveat Review release notes for v2.6.0 for any configuration or API changes that may require updates to your deployment manifests

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

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,770
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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-2024-33398 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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