CVE-2024-45496
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 · uneditedA flaw was found in OpenShift. This issue occurs due to the misuse of elevated privileges in the OpenShift Container Platform's build process. During the build initialization step, the git-clone container is run with a privileged security context, allowing unrestricted access to the node. An attacker with developer-level access can provide a crafted .gitconfig file containing commands executed during the cloning process, leading to arbitrary command execution on the worker node. An attacker running code in a privileged container could escalate their permissions on the node running the container.
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 confidenceA privilege escalation vulnerability exists in OpenShift's build process where the git-clone container runs with privileged security context. An attacker with developer-level access can exploit this by providing a crafted .gitconfig file containing commands that execute during the git clone operation, enabling arbitrary command execution on the worker node.
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
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Changed
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- Low
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:L
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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Identify git-clone container security context in build configurationsReview OpenShift buildconfigs and their associated pod specs. Look for the git-clone container definition and inspect its securityContext settings. Check for 'privileged: true' or overly permissive security context configurations.Affected if The git-clone container has privileged: true or runs with elevated privileges that exceed standard user permissions.
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Review build service account permissionsExamine the service account used by the build process (commonly 'builder' service account). Check its RBAC bindings and cluster role assignments to determine if it has excessive permissions.Affected if The build service account has cluster-admin or elevated RBAC permissions beyond what is required for basic build operations.
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Check build configuration namespace isolationIdentify which namespaces contain buildconfigs and verify RBAC policies restricting who can create, modify, or delete build resources. Check for improper role bindings that grant developers excessive control over builds.Affected if Developers have unconstrained ability to modify build configurations without RBAC restrictions.
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Verify .gitconfig file handling in buildsInspect build logs and build pod specifications to understand how .gitconfig files are processed during the git-clone phase. Determine if user-provided git configuration is executed without sanitization.Affected if The build process executes git commands using a user-supplied .gitconfig without validating its contents.
Your environment is affected if git-clone containers in your OpenShift builds run with privileged security context and developers can modify build configurations without restrictive RBAC controls.
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 · scopedRemove privileged security context from git-clone containers in the build process and run builds with least-privilege security constraints; implement RBAC restrictions on who can create/modify build configurations.
Refer to Red Hat security advisory for CVE-2024-45496 on access.redhat.com to obtain the exact fixed OpenShift Container Platform release for your version
- 1. Consult the Red Hat OpenShift security advisory (RHSA) for CVE-2024-45496 at access.redhat.com to obtain the specific fixed version for your OpenShift Container Platform release
- 2. Identify your current OpenShift version using 'oc get clusterversion'
- 3. Plan an upgrade to the recommended fixed release as specified in the Red Hat security advisory
- 4. Before upgrading, review the OpenShift upgrade documentation for your specific version to understand the upgrade path requirements
- 5. Execute the upgrade following standard OpenShift upgrade procedures
- 6. After upgrade, verify that builds no longer use privileged containers by reviewing BuildConfig specifications and ensuring securityContext.privileged is not set to true for git-clone containers
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation6.0 h
- Implementation12.0 h
- Testing10.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2024-45496 — 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-2024-45496 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
No notes yet
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