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CVE-2023-22651 — Vulnerability in github.com/rancher/rancher — CVE...

CRITICAL

Rancher Webhook is misconfigured during upgrade process

Published April 24, 2023Updated July 8, 2026Source: osv

Summary

### Impact A failure in the update logic of Rancher's admission Webhook may lead to the misconfiguration of the Webhook. This component enforces validation rules and security checks before resources are admitted into the Kubernetes cluster. When the Webhook is operating in a degraded state, it no longer validates any resources, which may result in severe privilege escalations and data corruption. The issue only affects users that upgrade from `2.6.x` or `2.7.x` to `2.7.2`. Users that did a fresh install of 2.7.2 (and did not follow an upgrade path) are not affected. The command below can be executed on the `local` cluster to determine whether the cluster is affected by this issue: ```sh $ kubectl get validatingwebhookconfigurations.admissionregistration.k8s.io rancher.cattle.io NAME WEBHOOKS AGE rancher.cattle.io 0 19h ``` If the resulting webhook quantity is `0`, the Rancher instance is affected. ### Patches Patched versions include release `2.7.3` and later versions. ### Workarounds If you are affected and cannot update to a patched Rancher version, the recommended workaround is to manually reconfigure the Webhook with the script below. Please note that the script must be run from inside the `local` cluster or with a kubeconfig pointing to the `local` cluster which has admin permissions. ```yaml #!/bin/bash set -euo pipefail function prereqs() { if ! [ -x "$(command -v kubectl)" ]; then echo "error: kubectl is not installed." >&2 exit 1 fi if [[ -z "$(kubectl config view -o jsonpath='{.clusters[].cluster.server}')" ]]; then echo "error: No kubernetes cluster found on kubeconfig." >&2 exit 1 fi } function restart_deployment(){ kubectl rollout restart deployment rancher-webhook -n cattle-system kubectl rollout status deployment rancher-webhook -n cattle-system --timeout=30s } function workaround() { echo "Cluster: $(kubectl config view -o jsonpath='{.clusters[].cluster.server}')" if ! kubectl get validatingwebhookconfigurations.admissionregistration.k8s.io rancher.cattle.io > /dev/null 2>&1; then echo "webhook rancher.cattle.io not found, restarting deployment:" restart_deployment echo "waiting for webhook configuration" sleep 15s fi local -i webhooks webhooks="$(kubectl get validatingwebhookconfigurations.admissionregistration.k8s.io rancher.cattle.io --no-headers | awk '{ print $2 }')" if [ "${webhooks}" == "0" ]; then echo "Webhook misconfiguration status: Cluster is affected by CVE-2023-22651" echo "Running workaround:" kubectl delete validatingwebhookconfiguration rancher.cattle.io restart_deployment ret=$? if [ $ret -eq 0 ]; then echo "Webhook restored, CVE-2023-22651 is fixed" else echo "error trying to restart deployment. try again in a few seconds." fi else echo "Webhook misconfiguration status: not present (skipping)" fi echo "Done" } function main() { prereqs workaround } main ``` ### References - https://github.com/rancher/webhook/pull/216/commits/a4a498613b43a3ee93c5ab06742a3bc8adace45d ### 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 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 April 24, 2023 (1267 days ago).
  • Last revised July 8, 2026 — 1170 days after initial publication.

Remediation

Upgrade to the fixed version using your package manager.

Go
Update github.com/rancher/rancher to 0.0.0-20230424183121-6d9a175954c6 or later
go get github.com/rancher/rancher@v0.0.0-20230424183121-6d9a175954c6
Go
Update github.com/rancher/rancher to 2.7.3 or later
go get github.com/rancher/rancher@v2.7.3

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 versions0.0.0-20230424183121-6d9a175954c6
github.com/rancher/rancher
go
2.7.22.7.3

Vulnerability Classification

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

  • CWE-269
    Improper Privilege ManagementMITRE
  • CWE-276
    Incorrect Default PermissionsMITRE

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-2023-22651?
Rancher Webhook is misconfigured during upgrade process 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-2023-22651?
CVE-2023-22651 affects github.com/rancher/rancher. Use GeekWala's free vulnerability scanner to check your dependencies against CVE-2023-22651 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-6m9f-pj6w-w87g

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