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Chaos MeshApplication

CVE-2025-59361

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-09-15
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 2.7.3 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Public exploit Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click Patch available

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
The cleanIptables mutation in Chaos Controller Manager is vulnerable to OS command injection. In conjunction with CVE-2025-59358, this allows unauthenticated in-cluster attackers to perform remote code execution 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 · moderate confidence

The cleanIptables mutation in Chaos Controller Manager contains an OS command injection vulnerability. When chained with CVE-2025-59358, unauthenticated in-cluster attackers can achieve remote code execution across the entire Kubernetes cluster by manipulating iptables cleanup commands.

MitigationApply the vendor patch for Chaos Controller Manager to remediate the command injection in cleanIptables. Review and restrict cluster-level RBAC permissions to limit attack surface for unauthenticated in-cluster attackers.

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
Chaos MeshApplication
Affected:< 2.7.3

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
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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. Confirm Chaos Mesh deployment exists
    Run 'kubectl get all -A | grep -i chaos' or check for chaos-mesh namespace to determine if Chaos Mesh is installed in the cluster
    Affected if Chaos Mesh is not installed in the environment
  2. Identify Chaos Mesh version
    Run 'helm list -A' to find the Chaos Mesh release, then 'helm get values <release-name>' or check the chaos-mesh namespace for deployed images to determine the installed version
    Affected if The installed version is lower than 2.7.3 (compare your version to the affected range: versions < 2.7.3)
  3. Locate Chaos Controller Manager pod
    Run 'kubectl get pods -n chaos-mesh -l app.kubernetes.io/component=controller-manager' to identify the controller manager pod
    Affected if No controller manager pod is found in the chaos-mesh namespace
  4. Verify cleanIptables mutation is present
    Examine the Chaos Controller Manager configuration and logs for references to cleanIptables, or inspect the deployed controller manager deployment/daemonset YAML for iptables-related mutations
    Affected if The cleanIptables mutation feature is enabled or present in the configuration
  5. Assess in-cluster network access
    Review Kubernetes NetworkPolicies applied to the chaos-mesh namespace and check if the controller manager service is exposed or accessible from other namespaces without authentication
    Affected if The Chaos Controller Manager is accessible from other namespaces without network restrictions

You are affected if Chaos Mesh version is below 2.7.3 AND the cleanIptables mutation is present in your Chaos Controller Manager deployment, making command injection possible for unauthenticated in-cluster attackers.

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 2.7.3 or later
Fixed in 2.7.3
Vendor patch github.com →
Interim mitigation

Apply the vendor patch for Chaos Controller Manager to remediate the command injection in cleanIptables. Review and restrict cluster-level RBAC permissions to limit attack surface for unauthenticated in-cluster attackers.

Recommended fix High confidence

Chaos Mesh 2.7.3

  1. Upgrade Chaos Mesh to version 2.7.3 or later to remediate the OS command injection vulnerability in the cleanIptables mutation
  2. Review the Chaos Controller Manager deployment configuration and ensure the upgrade is applied to all controller instances
  3. After upgrading, verify that the Chaos Mesh components are running correctly with: kubectl get pods -n chaos-mesh
  4. Confirm the vulnerability is patched by checking that the Chaos Mesh version is 2.7.3 or higher: kubectl get deployment chaos-controller-manager -n chaos-mesh -o jsonpath='{.spec.template.spec.containers[0].image}'

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

Fix this in Chaos Mesh Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
20.0 hours of engineering $3,440
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,504.

Scan for this in your stack

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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-2025-59361 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
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data