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CVE-2023-22647 — Vulnerability in github.com/rancher/rancher — CVE...

CRITICAL

Rancher vulnerable to Privilege Escalation via manipulation of Secrets

Published June 6, 2023Updated July 8, 2026Source: osv

Summary

### Impact A vulnerability has been identified which enables [Standard users](https://ranchermanager.docs.rancher.com/how-to-guides/new-user-guides/authentication-permissions-and-global-configuration/manage-role-based-access-control-rbac/global-permissions) or above to elevate their permissions to Administrator in the `local` cluster. The `local` cluster means the cluster where Rancher is installed. It is named `local` inside the list of clusters in the Rancher UI. Standard users could leverage their existing permissions to manipulate Kubernetes secrets in the `local` cluster, resulting in the secret being deleted, but their read-level permissions to the secret being preserved. When this operation was followed-up by other specially crafted commands, it could result in the user gaining access to tokens belonging to service accounts in the `local` cluster. Users that have custom global roles which grant `create` and `delete` permissions on `secrets` would also be able to exploit this vulnerability. Users with [audit logs enabled](https://ranchermanager.docs.rancher.com/how-to-guides/advanced-user-guides/enable-api-audit-log#enabling-api-audit-log) in Rancher can try to identify possible abuses of this issue by going through the logs. To sieve through the data filter by `kind: Secret` with `type: provisioning.cattle.io/cloud-credential`, then investigate all log entries that affect that specific resource. A secondary check would be to filter by all operations with `Opaque` Secrets within the `cattle-global-data` namespace. After patching, it is recommended that users review access methods to Rancher (including RBAC policies, tokens, and host-level node access), to ensure that no changes were made to persist access to users who have leveraged this vulnerability. ### Patches Patched versions include releases `2.6.13`, `2.7.4` and later versions. ### Workarounds There is no direct mitigation besides updating Rancher to a patched version. ### For more information If you have any questions or comments about this advisory: - Reach out to the [SUSE Rancher Security team](https://github.com/rancher/rancher/security/policy) for security related inquiries. - Open an issue in the [Rancher](https://github.com/rancher/rancher/issues/new/choose) repository. - Verify with our [support matrix](https://www.suse.com/suse-rancher/support-matrix/all-supported-versions/) and [product support lifecycle](https://www.suse.com/lifecycle/).

Advisory Timeline

  • First published June 6, 2023 (1224 days ago).
  • Last revised July 8, 2026 — 1128 days after initial publication.

Remediation

Upgrade to the fixed version using your package manager.

Go
Update github.com/rancher/rancher to 2.7.4 or later
go get github.com/rancher/rancher@v2.7.4
Go
Update github.com/rancher/rancher to 2.6.13 or later
go get github.com/rancher/rancher@v2.6.13

After upgrading, run your dependency scanner again to confirm the vulnerability is resolved.

Affected Packages (2)

Affects 1 ecosystem: go (1).

PackageEcosystemAffectedFixed In
github.com/rancher/rancher
go
All versions2.7.4
github.com/rancher/rancher
go
All versions2.6.13

Vulnerability Classification

Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) identifiers for this vulnerability type.

CVSS Score Breakdown

What the CVSS (Common Vulnerability Scoring System) 9.9 score means for each attack dimension.

Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
Low
User Interaction
None
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2023-22647?
Rancher vulnerable to Privilege Escalation via manipulation of Secrets This vulnerability has been assigned a severity rating of CRITICAL (CVSS score: 9.9/10).
How do I check if my project is affected by CVE-2023-22647?
CVE-2023-22647 affects github.com/rancher/rancher. Use GeekWala's free vulnerability scanner to check your dependencies against CVE-2023-22647 and 200,000+ other known vulnerabilities.

Severity & Exploitability

CVSS Score
9.9

Exploitation is straightforward and causes maximum impact. Patch immediately.

Also Known As

GHSA-p976-h52c-26p6

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