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Medium

cilium-agent container can access the host via `hostPath` mount

Type: advisorySources: OSV

Cilium is a networking, observability, and security solution with an eBPF-based dataplane. Prior to versions 1.11.15, 1.12.8, and 1.13.1, an attacker with access to a Cilium agent pod can write to `/opt/cni/bin` due to a `hostPath` mount of that directory in the agent pod. By replacing the CNI binary with their own malicious binary and waiting for the creation of a new pod on the node, the attacker can gain access to the underlying node. The issue has been fixed and the fix is available on versions 1.11.15, 1.12.8, and 1.13.1. Some workarounds are available. Kubernetes RBAC should be used to deny users and service accounts `exec` access to Cilium agent pods. In cases where a user requires `exec` access to Cilium agent pods, but should not have access to the underlying node, no workaround is possible.

Products
Not specified
Affected versions
Not specified
Fixed versions
Not specified
CVEs
CVE-2023-27593
Confirmed fixed CVEs
Not specified
Updated in this feed
8 Nov 2026, 02:06 UTC · Revision 1

Source evidence

cilium-agent container can access the host via `hostPath` mount

core-osv · Original source

Published 17 Mar 2023, 19:51 UTC

Cilium is a networking, observability, and security solution with an eBPF-based dataplane. Prior to versions 1.11.15, 1.12.8, and 1.13.1, an attacker with access to a Cilium agent pod can write to `/opt/cni/bin` due to a `hostPath` mount of that directory in the agent pod. By replacing the CNI binary with their own malicious binary and waiting for the creation of a new pod on the node, the attacker can gain access to the underlying node. The issue has been fixed and the fix is available on versions 1.11.15, 1.12.8, and 1.13.1. Some workarounds are available. Kubernetes RBAC should be used to deny users and service accounts `exec` access to Cilium agent pods. In cases where a user requires `exec` access to Cilium agent pods, but should not have access to the underlying node, no workaround is possible.

osv:CVE-2023-27593
Complete source record
{
  "id": "45bc44dfc9ed67c85ac9b249917d6dcb29f663ff210a60fc92ab408ee33b2e6f",
  "url": "https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-27593",
  "method": "structured",
  "payload": {
    "kind": "advisory",
    "title": "cilium-agent container can access the host via `hostPath` mount",
    "summary": "Cilium is a networking, observability, and security solution with an eBPF-based dataplane. Prior to versions 1.11.15, 1.12.8, and 1.13.1, an attacker with access to a Cilium agent pod can write to `/opt/cni/bin` due to a `hostPath` mount of that directory in the agent pod. By replacing the CNI binary with their own malicious binary and waiting for the creation of a new pod on the node, the attacker can gain access to the underlying node. The issue has been fixed and the fix is available on versions 1.11.15, 1.12.8, and 1.13.1. Some workarounds are available. Kubernetes RBAC should be used to deny users and service accounts `exec` access to Cilium agent pods. In cases where a user requires `exec` access to Cilium agent pods, but should not have access to the underlying node, no workaround is possible.",
    "evidence": "osv:CVE-2023-27593",
    "products": [],
    "severity": "medium",
    "structured": {
      "id": "CVE-2023-27593",
      "aliases": [
        "BIT-cilium-2023-27593",
        "BIT-cilium-operator-2023-27593",
        "BIT-cilium-proxy-2023-27593",
        "BIT-hubble-2023-27593",
        "BIT-hubble-relay-2023-27593",
        "BIT-hubble-ui-2023-27593",
        "BIT-hubble-ui-backend-2023-27593",
        "CVE-2023-27593",
        "GHSA-4hc4-pgfx-3mrx"
      ],
      "metrics": [
        {
          "type": "CVSS_V3",
          "score": "CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H"
        }
      ],
      "affected": [
        {
          "ranges": [
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              "repo": "https://github.com/cilium/cilium",
              "type": "GIT",
              "events": [
                {
                  "introduced": "0"
                },
                {
                  "fixed": "c5577e8e8987ec4355751094f09248fb58734fdc"
                },
                {
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                },
                {
                  "fixed": "87d85617d1385ba9cce4c6471c32d7302f2648ab"
                },
                {
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                {
                  "fixed": "a6be57eb805dd60c6516c2fe22cddbe1e09c3812"
                }
              ],
              "database_specific": {
                "extracted_events": [
                  {
                    "cpe": "cpe:2.3:a:cilium:cilium:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
                    "range": [
                      {
                        "introduced": "0"
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                      {
                        "fixed": "1.11.15"
                      }
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                    "source": "CPE_RANGE"
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                  {
                    "cpe": "cpe:2.3:a:cilium:cilium:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
                    "range": [
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                        "introduced": "1.12.0"
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                      {
                        "fixed": "1.12.8"
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                    "source": "CPE_RANGE"
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                  {
                    "cpe": "cpe:2.3:a:cilium:cilium:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
                    "range": [
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                  },
                  {
                    "range": [
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                    "source": "REFERENCES_TAG",
                    "original_tag": "v1.11.15"
                  },
                  {
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                    "source": "REFERENCES_TAG",
                    "original_tag": "v1.12.8"
                  },
                  {
                    "range": [
                      {
                        "fixed": "a6be57eb805dd60c6516c2fe22cddbe1e09c3812"
                      }
                    ],
                    "source": "REFERENCES_TAG",
                    "original_tag": "v1.13.1"
                  }
                ]
              }
            }
          ],
          "versions": [
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            "1.13.0",
            "v1.12.7",
            "1.12.7",
            "v1.11.14",
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            "1.11.8",
            "v1.12.1",
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            "v1.11.7",
            "1.11.7",
            "v1.11.6",
            "1.11.6",
            "v1.11.5",
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            "1.11.4",
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            "1.11.1",
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            "1.11.0-rc3",
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            "1.11.0-rc0",
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            "v1.9.0-rc1",
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          ],
          "database_specific": {
            "source": "https://storage.googleapis.com/cve-osv-conversion/osv-output/CVE-2023-27593.json"
          }
        }
      ],
      "modified": "2026-10-28T02:30:52.776252954Z",
      "provider": "osv",
      "references": [
        "https://github.com/cilium/cilium/releases/tag/v1.11.15",
        "https://github.com/cilium/cilium/releases/tag/v1.12.8",
        "https://github.com/cilium/cilium/releases/tag/v1.13.1",
        "https://kubernetes.io/docs/reference/access-authn-authz/rbac/",
        "https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2023/27xxx/CVE-2023-27593.json",
        "https://github.com/cilium/cilium/security/advisories/GHSA-4hc4-pgfx-3mrx",
        "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-27593",
        "https://github.com/cilium/cilium/pull/24075"
      ],
      "provider_metadata": {
        "cwe_ids": [
          "CWE-276"
        ],
        "cna_assigner": "GitHub_M",
        "osv_generated_from": "https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2023/27xxx/CVE-2023-27593.json"
      }
    },
    "related_cves": [
      {
        "value": "CVE-2023-27593",
        "evidence": "/id"
      }
    ],
    "security_relevant": true,
    "severity_evidence": "/severity/0/score"
  },
  "source_id": "core-osv",
  "document_id": 521624,
  "published_at": "2023-03-17T19:51:16.689+00:00"
}