Description
KubeVirt is a virtual machine management add-on for Kubernetes. In versions 0.59.0 and prior, if a malicious user has taken over a Kubernetes node where virt-handler (the KubeVirt node-daemon) is running, the virt-handler service account can be used to modify all node specs. This can be misused to lure-in system-level-privileged components which can, for instance, read all secrets on the cluster, or can exec into pods on other nodes. This way, a compromised node can be used to elevate privileges beyond the node until potentially having full privileged access to the whole cluster. The simplest way to exploit this, once a user could compromise a specific node, is to set with the virt-handler service account all other nodes to unschedulable and simply wait until system-critical components with high privileges appear on its node. No patches are available as of time of publication. As a workaround, gatekeeper users can add a webhook which will block the `virt-handler` service account to modify the spec of a node.
Metrics
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:NWeakness enumeration
Affected software
| Vendor | Product | Versions |
|---|---|---|
| kubevirt | kubevirt | <= 0.59.0 |
References
- https://github.com/kubevirt/kubevirt/issues/9109Issue Tracking, Third Party Advisory
- https://github.com/kubevirt/kubevirt/security/advisories/GHSA-cp96-jpmq-xrr2Mitigation, Vendor Advisory
- https://github.com/kubevirt/kubevirt/issues/9109Issue Tracking, Third Party Advisory
- https://github.com/kubevirt/kubevirt/security/advisories/GHSA-cp96-jpmq-xrr2Mitigation, Vendor Advisory
Timeline
- Published
- Mar 15, 2023
- Last modified
- Jun 17, 2026
- NVD status
- Modified