Controller code execution via annotation injection
Published Mar 24, 2025 · Updated Feb 26, 2026
Configuration injection in Kubernetes ingress-nginx 1.12.0 and 1.11.4 and earlier allows remote authenticated users to execute controller code. The auth-tls-match-cn parser accepts newline-bearing certificate-name expressions and places them into generated NGINX configuration without rejecting directive-breaking input. Permission to create or modify Ingress objects is required, after which injected configuration can expose controller-readable Secrets, including all cluster Secrets in a default installation.
Summary
What happened
Configuration injection in Kubernetes ingress-nginx 1.12.0 and 1.11.4 and earlier allows remote authenticated users to execute controller code. The auth-tls-match-cn parser accepts newline-bearing certificate-name expressions and places them into generated NGINX configuration without rejecting directive-breaking input. Permission to create or modify Ingress objects is required, after which injected configuration can expose controller-readable Secrets, including all cluster Secrets in a default installation.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2025-1097
- Published
- Mar 24, 2025
- Updated
- Feb 26, 2026
- Vendor
- Kubernetes
- Product
- ingress-nginx
- Classifications
- CWE-15, CWE-20, T1068
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Mar 24, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Feb 26, 2026Record 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.
- Affected versionversion=0 <=1.11.4
- Affected versionversion=1.12.0
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
No public exploit references are available in this record.
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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