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CVE-2025-23391 — Vulnerability in github.com/rancher/rancher — CVE...

CRITICAL

Rancher: Restricted Administrator can change Administrator's passwords

Published April 1, 2025Updated September 10, 2026Source: osv

Summary

### Impact A vulnerability has been identified within Rancher where a Restricted Administrator can change the password of Administrators and take over their accounts. A Restricted Administrator should be not allowed to change the password of more privileged users unless it contains the Manage Users permissions. Rancher deployments where the Restricted Administrator role is not being used are not affected by this CVE. Please consult the associated [MITRE ATT&CK - Technique - Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1548/) for further information about this category of attack. ### Patches The fix introduces a few changes: 1. If the user has a manage-users verb, the user is allowed to edit/delete users. That way the Manage Users built in role will still be able to edit ALL users. 2. If the user doesn't have manage-users, just edit or delete, then there is a check to ensure that the User being edited only has rules equal to or less than the editor. Patched versions include releases `v2.8.14`, `v2.9.8`, `v2.10.4` and `v2.11.0` ### Workarounds Users are recommended to upgrade, as soon as possible, to a version of Rancher Manager that contains the fix. If users can't upgrade, the following are recommended: 1. Limit access to Rancher Restricted Admin only to trusted users. 2. Downgrade Restricted Administrators to custom roles with limited permissions. ### Credits This issue was identified and reported by Xavier Duthil from OVHcloud. ### References 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 April 1, 2025 (559 days ago).
  • Last revised September 10, 2026 — 527 days after initial publication.

Remediation

Upgrade to the fixed version using your package manager.

Go
Update github.com/rancher/rancher to 2.8.14 or later
go get github.com/rancher/rancher@v2.8.14
Go
Update github.com/rancher/rancher to 2.10.4 or later
go get github.com/rancher/rancher@v2.10.4
Go
Update github.com/rancher/rancher to 2.9.8 or later
go get github.com/rancher/rancher@v2.9.8

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

Affected Packages (3)

Affects 1 ecosystem: go (1).

PackageEcosystemAffectedFixed In
github.com/rancher/rancher
go
All versions2.8.14
github.com/rancher/rancher
go
All versions2.10.4
github.com/rancher/rancher
go
All versions2.9.8

Vulnerability Classification

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

CVSS Score Breakdown

What the CVSS (Common Vulnerability Scoring System) 9.1 score means for each attack dimension.

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

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

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2025-23391?
Rancher: Restricted Administrator can change Administrator's passwords This vulnerability has been assigned a severity rating of CRITICAL (CVSS score: 9.1/10).
How do I check if my project is affected by CVE-2025-23391?
CVE-2025-23391 affects github.com/rancher/rancher. Use GeekWala's free vulnerability scanner to check your dependencies against CVE-2025-23391 and 200,000+ other known vulnerabilities.

Severity & Exploitability

CVSS Score
9.1

Exploitation is straightforward and causes maximum impact. Patch immediately.

Also Known As

GHSA-8p83-cpfg-fj3g
GO-2025-3586

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