CVE-2023-41333

Clusterwide policy bypass via reserved init selector exception

Published Sep 26, 2023 · Updated Sep 23, 2024

Policy bypass in Cilium before 1.12.14, 1.13.0 through 1.13.6, and 1.14.0 through 1.14.1 allows remote authenticated users to alter cluster traffic. The CiliumNetworkPolicy parser suppresses automatic namespace-label insertion for selectors matching reserved:init, including a crafted DoesNotExist match that selects endpoints outside the policy namespace. Kubernetes API access and permission to create or modify CiliumNetworkPolicy objects are required; a successful policy can allow or deny traffic clusterwide.

CVSS severity6.9
Medium
EPSS probability0.41%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Policy bypass in Cilium before 1.12.14, 1.13.0 through 1.13.6, and 1.14.0 through 1.14.1 allows remote authenticated users to alter cluster traffic. The CiliumNetworkPolicy parser suppresses automatic namespace-label insertion for selectors matching reserved:init, including a crafted DoesNotExist match that selects endpoints outside the policy namespace. Kubernetes API access and permission to create or modify CiliumNetworkPolicy objects are required; a successful policy can allow or deny traffic clusterwide.

The record

CVE
CVE-2023-41333
Published
Sep 26, 2023
Updated
Sep 23, 2024
Vendor
Cilium
Product
Cilium
Classifications
CWE-306, T1562.004
Attack vector
adjacent
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Sep 26, 2023CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Sep 23, 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=< 1.12.14
  2. Affected versionversion=>= 1.13.0, < 1.13.7
  3. Affected versionversion=>= 1.14.0, < 1.14.2

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectoradjacent
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

Cilium · Ciliumversion=< 1.12.14; version=>= 1.13.0, < 1.13.7; version=>= 1.14.0, < 1.14.2

Published CVSS scores

6.9GitHub CNACVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:N/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-306Missing Authentication for Critical Function
T1562.004Disable or Modify System Firewall

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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