CVE-2023-22645Network attack vector

Arbitrary secret access via excessive cluster-role permissions

Published Apr 19, 2023 · Updated Feb 5, 2025

Improper privilege management in Kubewarden Admission Controller before 1.6.0 allows attackers to read arbitrary Kubernetes secrets. The kubewarden-controller-manager cluster role grants the kubewarden-controller ServiceAccount excessive permission to read Secret objects. Access to that ServiceAccount is required, after which its credentials expose secrets beyond the controller's intended needs.

CVSS severity8.0
High
EPSS probability0.47%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
Coverage for this vulnerability

See if you're affected

Explore vulnerability checks for your environment with Hinoki.

Book a demo

Summary

What happened

Improper privilege management in Kubewarden Admission Controller before 1.6.0 allows attackers to read arbitrary Kubernetes secrets. The kubewarden-controller-manager cluster role grants the kubewarden-controller ServiceAccount excessive permission to read Secret objects. Access to that ServiceAccount is required, after which its credentials expose secrets beyond the controller's intended needs.

The record

CVE
CVE-2023-22645
Published
Apr 19, 2023
Updated
Feb 5, 2025
Vendor
Kubewarden
Product
Kubewarden Admission Controller
Classifications
CWE-269, T1552.007
Attack vector
network
Privileges
admin

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Apr 19, 2023CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Feb 5, 2025Record 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=kubewarden-controller <1.6.0

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectornetwork
Required privilegesadmin

What is affected?

Kubewarden · Kubewarden Admission Controllerversion=kubewarden-controller <1.6.0

Published CVSS scores

8.8CISACVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
8.0SUSECVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/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)
Vectornetwork
Privilegesadmin
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-269Improper Privilege Management
T1552.007Unsecured Credentials: Container API

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

See the directory against your own environment.

Your stack

Check the software in your environment

Book a demo to see how Hinoki identifies affected software and validates exploitability in your environment.

Book a demo