CVE-2023-1943

Cluster-admin escalation via overprivileged node service credentials

Published Oct 11, 2023 · Updated Sep 18, 2024

Privilege escalation in Kubernetes kOps before 1.25.4 and 1.26.0 through 1.26.1 allows remote authenticated users to gain cluster-admin access. In GCP Gossip Mode, node service account credentials grant containers access to sensitive data in the cluster state storage bucket. A container must already run inside an affected GCP-hosted cluster; other providers and non-Gossip configurations are outside the reported scope.

CVSS severity8.0
High
EPSS probability0.58%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Privilege escalation in Kubernetes kOps before 1.25.4 and 1.26.0 through 1.26.1 allows remote authenticated users to gain cluster-admin access. In GCP Gossip Mode, node service account credentials grant containers access to sensitive data in the cluster state storage bucket. A container must already run inside an affected GCP-hosted cluster; other providers and non-Gossip configurations are outside the reported scope.

The record

CVE
CVE-2023-1943
Published
Oct 11, 2023
Updated
Sep 18, 2024
Vendor
Kubernetes
Product
kOps
Classifications
CWE-250, CAPEC-233, T1078.004
Attack vector
adjacent
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Oct 11, 2023CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Sep 18, 2024Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

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Is a vulnerable build present?

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

  1. Affected versionversion=0 <1.25.3
  2. Affected versionversion=0 <1.25.4
  3. Affected versionversion=1.26.0 <1.26.2

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectoradjacent
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

Kubernetes · kOpsversion=0 <1.25.3; version=0 <1.25.4; version=1.26.0 <1.26.2

Published CVSS scores

8.0KubernetesCVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
8.8NIST NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

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)
Vectoradjacent
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-250Execution with Unnecessary Privileges
CAPEC-233Privilege Escalation
T1078.004Cloud Accounts

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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