dbcve.org
Code InjectionWeakness · CWE-94

CVE-2024-5651

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-08-12
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
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 flaw was found in the Fence Agents Remediation operator. This vulnerability can allow a Remote Code Execution (RCE) primitive by supplying an arbitrary command to execute in the --ssh-path/--telnet-path arguments. A low-privilege user, for example, a user with developer access, can create a specially crafted FenceAgentsRemediation for a fence agent supporting  --ssh-path/--telnet-path arguments to execute arbitrary commands on the operator's pod. This RCE leads to a privilege escalation, first as the service account running the operator, then to another service account with cluster-admin privileges.

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

The Fence Agents Remediation operator has a command injection vulnerability where low-privilege users can supply arbitrary commands via --ssh-path/--telnet-path arguments in FenceAgentsRemediation resources. This allows RCE on the operator's pod, enabling privilege escalation from the operator's service account to cluster-admin level access.

MitigationRestrict RBAC permissions to prevent low-privilege users from creating/modifying FenceAgentsRemediation resources, and apply any available operator patches. Monitor for unauthorized FenceAgentsRemediation resource creation.

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
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. Verify if Fence Agents Remediation operator is installed
    Run 'kubectl get pods -A | grep -i fence' or check for the operator deployment in the namespace where it was installed (commonly openshift-fence-agents-remediation or a custom namespace)
    Affected if The operator is present in the cluster
  2. Identify the installed operator version
    Run 'kubectl get deployment -A -o jsonpath="{.items[?(@.spec.template.spec.containers[0].name=="fence-agents-remediation-operator")].spec.template.spec.containers[0].image}"' or check the operator CSV in OLM. Compare this version to the fixed release from your vendor (Red Hat, etc.)
    Affected if The operator version is lower than the fixed version published by your vendor
  3. Check RBAC permissions for FenceAgentsRemediation resources
    Run 'kubectl auth can create fenceagentsremediations.fenceagentsremediation.kubernetes.io' as a low-privilege test user, or review ClusterRoleBindings/RoleBindings for users or groups granted create/update permissions on this CRD
    Affected if Non-admin users have create or update permissions on FenceAgentsRemediation resources
  4. Inspect existing FenceAgentsRemediation resources for malicious path arguments
    Run 'kubectl get far -A -o jsonpath="{range .items[*]}{.metadata.name}{.spec.sshPath}{.spec.telnetPath}{"\n"}{end}"' to list any custom --ssh-path or --telnet-path values configured
    Affected if Any FenceAgentsRemediation resource has custom --ssh-path or --telnet-path arguments pointing to unexpected binaries or scripts

The environment is affected if the Fence Agents Remediation operator is installed and low-privilege users can create or update FenceAgentsRemediation resources with custom --ssh-path or --telnet-path arguments, allowing arbitrary command execution.

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.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Restrict RBAC permissions to prevent low-privilege users from creating/modifying FenceAgentsRemediation resources, and apply any available operator patches. Monitor for unauthorized FenceAgentsRemediation resource creation.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation6.0 h
  • Implementation12.0 h
  • Testing10.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
32.0 hours of engineering $5,580
Get help mitigating

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $8,928.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2024-5651 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

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-2024-5651 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data