CVE-2022-21701

Privileged Escalation in Istio

Description

Istio is an open platform to connect, manage, and secure microservices. In versions 1.12.0 and 1.12.1 Istio is vulnerable to a privilege escalation attack. Users who have `CREATE` permission for `gateways.gateway.networking.k8s.io` objects can escalate this privilege to create other resources that they may not have access to, such as `Pod`. This vulnerability impacts only an Alpha level feature, the Kubernetes Gateway API. This is not the same as the Istio Gateway type (gateways.networking.istio.io), which is not vulnerable. Users are advised to upgrade to resolve this issue. Users unable to upgrade should implement any of the following which will prevent this vulnerability: Remove the gateways.gateway.networking.k8s.io CustomResourceDefinition, set PILOT_ENABLE_GATEWAY_API_DEPLOYMENT_CONTROLLER=true environment variable in Istiod, or remove CREATE permissions for gateways.gateway.networking.k8s.io objects from untrusted users.

Category

5.0
CVSS
Severity: Medium
CVSS 3.1 •
CVSS 2.0 •
EPSS 0.22%
Vendor Advisory istio.io
Affected: istio istio
Published at:
Updated at:

References

Link Tags
https://istio.io/latest/news/releases/1.12.x/announcing-1.12.2/ vendor advisory mitigation release notes
https://github.com/istio/istio/security/advisories/GHSA-mq8f-9446-c28r third party advisory

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the severity of CVE-2022-21701?
CVE-2022-21701 has been scored as a medium severity vulnerability.
How to fix CVE-2022-21701?
To fix CVE-2022-21701, make sure you are using an up-to-date version of the affected component(s) by checking the vendor release notes. As for now, there are no other specific guidelines available.
Is CVE-2022-21701 being actively exploited in the wild?
As for now, there are no information to confirm that CVE-2022-21701 is being actively exploited. According to its EPSS score, there is a ~0% probability that this vulnerability will be exploited by malicious actors in the next 30 days.
What software or system is affected by CVE-2022-21701?
CVE-2022-21701 affects istio istio.
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