CVE-2023-5528Public exploitNetwork attack vector

Administrator escalation via unsanitized local volume paths

Published Nov 14, 2023 · Updated Feb 25, 2026

Command injection in Kubernetes Kubelet allows remote authenticated users to gain administrator privileges on affected Windows nodes. The Windows in-tree storage path handler passes an unsanitized PersistentVolume local path to the mklink shell command instead of a native link API. The user must be able to create pods and PersistentVolumes in a cluster using an in-tree storage plugin; injected commands run with kubelet's node privileges.

CVSS severity7.2
High
EPSS probability4.25%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Command injection in Kubernetes Kubelet allows remote authenticated users to gain administrator privileges on affected Windows nodes. The Windows in-tree storage path handler passes an unsanitized PersistentVolume local path to the mklink shell command instead of a native link API. The user must be able to create pods and PersistentVolumes in a cluster using an in-tree storage plugin; injected commands run with kubelet's node privileges.

The record

CVE
CVE-2023-5528
Published
Nov 14, 2023
Updated
Feb 25, 2026
Vendor
Kubernetes
Product
Kubelet
Classifications
CWE-20, CAPEC-233, T1059.003, T1068
Attack vector
network
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Nov 14, 2023CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Feb 25, 2026Record 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=0 <=v1.25.15
  2. Affected versionversion=v1.26.0 <=v1.26.10
  3. Affected versionversion=v1.27.0 <=v1.27.7
  4. Affected versionversion=v1.28.0 <=v1.28.3

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectornetwork
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

Kubernetes · Kubeletversion=0 <=v1.25.15; version=v1.26.0 <=v1.26.10; version=v1.27.0 <=v1.27.7; version=v1.28.0 <=v1.28.3

Published CVSS scores

7.2KubernetesCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
8.8NIST NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/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)
Vectornetwork
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitPublished

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-20Improper Input Validation
CAPEC-233Privilege Escalation
T1059.003Windows Command Shell
T1068Exploitation for Privilege Escalation

Public exploit references

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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