Weave Net Pods running in host PID namespace can be used to escalate other Kubernetes vulnerabilities
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Adjacent network
- Privileges required
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- High
- Impact type
- Privilege escalation
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- High · High · High
- Fix status
- Fixed
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · NVD. Fix status from CNA. Impact type from CWE-250.
Summary
Weave Net is open source software which creates a virtual network that connects Docker containers across multiple hosts and enables their automatic discovery. Weave Net before version 2.8.0 has a vulnerability in which can allow an attacker to take over any host in the cluster. Weave Net is supplied with a manifest that runs pods on every node in a Kubernetes cluster, which are responsible for managing network connections for all other pods in the cluster. This requires a lot of power over the host, and the manifest sets `privileged: true`, which gives it that power. It also set `hostPID: true`, which gave it the ability to access all other processes on the host, and write anywhere in the root filesystem of the host. This setting was not necessary, and is being removed. You are only vulnerable if you have an additional vulnerability (e.g. a bug in Kubernetes) or misconfiguration that allows an attacker to run code inside the Weave Net pod, No such bug is known at the time of release, and there are no known instances of this being exploited. Weave Net 2.8.0 removes the hostPID setting and moves CNI plugin install to an init container. Users who do not update to 2.8.0 can edit the hostPID line in their existing DaemonSet manifest to say false instead of true, arrange some other way to install CNI plugins (e.g. Ansible) and remove those mounts from the DaemonSet manifest.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
Not available: CISA has not published SSVC decision points for this record.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| weaveworks | weave | before 2.8.0 | 2.8.0 | Patch available | CNA |
- weave Vendorweaveworks Affected before 2.8.0 Fixed in 2.8.0 Patch available CNA
Remediation
- Fix · CNA weave (weaveworks) Fixed in 2.8.0
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2020-26278
References
More weaveworks vulnerabilities
- TI-2022-16400 Improper object validation allows for arbitrary code execution in GitOps Tools Extension for VSCode CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
- TI-2022-16401 Improper KubeConfig handling allows arbitrary code execution CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
- TI-2022-13142 Weave GitOps leaked cluster credentials into logs on connection errors CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.0
- TI-2022-07567 GitOps Run allows for Kubernetes workload injection CVSS 3.1HIGH 8.9
- TI-2023-17072 Information Disclosure Vulnerability in Weave GitOps Terraform Controller CVSS 3.1HIGH 8.5
- TI-2022-07568 Weave Gitops Run vulnerable to insecure communication CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.4
Sources
This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Sources and licences