CVE-2021-36784Network attack vector

Admin privilege escalation via unrestricted Global Role grants

Published May 2, 2022 · Updated Sep 16, 2024

Improper privilege management in Rancher 2.5.0 through 2.5.12 and 2.6.0 through 2.6.3 allows remote authenticated users to gain admin access. Global Role create and update handling lets users grant permissions they do not already possess, including wildcard administrative permissions. The gate is a non-admin account with Global Role create or update rights, commonly restricted-admin; exploitation can elevate that account or another account to full administrator.

CVSS severity7.2
High
EPSS probability0.89%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Improper privilege management in Rancher 2.5.0 through 2.5.12 and 2.6.0 through 2.6.3 allows remote authenticated users to gain admin access. Global Role create and update handling lets users grant permissions they do not already possess, including wildcard administrative permissions. The gate is a non-admin account with Global Role create or update rights, commonly restricted-admin; exploitation can elevate that account or another account to full administrator.

The record

CVE
CVE-2021-36784
Published
May 2, 2022
Updated
Sep 16, 2024
Vendor
NeuVector
Product
Rancher
Classifications
CWE-269, CWE-285, T1068
Attack vector
network
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. May 2, 2022CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Sep 16, 2024Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.

Is a vulnerable build present?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=Rancher <2.5.13
  2. Affected versionversion=Rancher <2.6.4

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectornetwork
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

NeuVector · Rancherversion=Rancher <2.5.13; version=Rancher <2.6.4

Published CVSS scores

7.2SUSECVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
6.5NIST NVDAV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:P/I:P/A:P

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectornetwork
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-269Improper Privilege Management
CWE-285Improper Authorization
T1068Exploitation for Privilege Escalation

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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