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TI-2022-07687 Aliases CVE-2022-23635GHSA-856q-xv3c-7f2f

Unauthenticated control plane denial of service attack in Istio

Priority MEDIUM 42CWE-287Published · Updated

Key facts

Attack vector
Network
Privileges required
None
User interaction
None
Attack complexity
Low
Impact type
Security bypass
Confidentiality · integrity · availability
None · None · High
Fix status
Fixed

Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA, GitHub and Red Hat. Impact type from CWE-287.

Summary

Istio is an open platform to connect, manage, and secure microservices. In affected versions the Istio control plane, `istiod`, is vulnerable to a request processing error, allowing a malicious attacker that sends a specially crafted message which results in the control plane crashing. This endpoint is served over TLS port 15012, but does not require any authentication from the attacker. For simple installations, Istiod is typically only reachable from within the cluster, limiting the blast radius. However, for some deployments, especially [multicluster](https://istio.io/latest/docs/setup/install/multicluster/primary-remote/) topologies, this port is exposed over the public internet. There are no effective workarounds, beyond upgrading. Limiting network access to Istiod to the minimal set of clients can help lessen the scope of the vulnerability to some extent.

Why it matters now

Exploitation None reported CISA SSVC · not in CISA KEV
EPSS 0.01651 76th percentileScored 2026-11-07
Fix Fixed istio (istio): 1.13.1, 1.12.4, 1.11.7istio.io/istio (Go): 1.13.1, 1.12.4, 1.11.7Red Hat: 2 advisories

SSVC decision points

CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3

Exploitation
None
Automatable
Yes
Technical impact
Partial

The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.

Affected products

VendorProductAffected versionsFixed inStatusSource
istioistio1.13.0 to before 1.13.1; 1.12.0 to before 1.12.4; before 1.11.71.13.1, 1.12.4, 1.11.7Patch availableCNA
—istio.io/istio (Go)1.13.0 to before 1.13.11.13.1Patch availableGHSA-856q-xv3c-7f2f
—istio.io/istio (Go)1.12.0 to before 1.12.41.12.4Patch availableGHSA-856q-xv3c-7f2f
—istio.io/istio (Go)before 1.11.71.11.7Patch availableGHSA-856q-xv3c-7f2f
  • istio Vendoristio Affected 1.13.0 to before 1.13.1; 1.12.0 to before 1.12.4; before 1.11.7 Fixed in 1.13.1, 1.12.4, 1.11.7 Patch available CNA
  • istio.io/istio (Go) Vendor— Affected 1.13.0 to before 1.13.1 Fixed in 1.13.1 Patch available GHSA-856q-xv3c-7f2f
  • istio.io/istio (Go) Vendor— Affected 1.12.0 to before 1.12.4 Fixed in 1.12.4 Patch available GHSA-856q-xv3c-7f2f
  • istio.io/istio (Go) Vendor— Affected before 1.11.7 Fixed in 1.11.7 Patch available GHSA-856q-xv3c-7f2f

CPE configurations NVD · 1

CPEVersionsRoleVendor
cpe:2.3:a:istio:istio:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*before 1.11.7; 1.12.0 to before 1.12.4; 1.13.0 to before 1.13.1Vulnerableistio
  • cpe:2.3:a:istio:istio:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions before 1.11.7; 1.12.0 to before 1.12.4; 1.13.0 to before 1.13.1 Vulnerable ·istio

Remediation

  • Fix · CNA istio (istio) Fixed in 1.13.1, 1.12.4, 1.11.7
  • Fix · GHSA-856q-xv3c-7f2f istio.io/istio (Go) Fixed in 1.13.1 Advisory →
  • Fix · GHSA-856q-xv3c-7f2f istio.io/istio (Go) Fixed in 1.12.4 Advisory →
  • Fix · GHSA-856q-xv3c-7f2f istio.io/istio (Go) Fixed in 1.11.7 Advisory →

Red Hat 2 advisories

  • RHSA-2022:1275 Released 2022-04-07 · Red Hat rating Important
    Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh 2.1.2 security update
    • OpenShift Service Mesh 2.1 servicemesh-2.1.2-4.el8, servicemesh-cni-2.1.2-4.el8, servicemesh-pilot-agent-2.1.2-4.el8 +3
  • RHSA-2022:1276 Released 2022-04-07 · Red Hat rating Important
    Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh 2.0.9 security update
    • OpenShift Service Mesh 2.0 kiali-v1.24.7.redhat1-1.el8, servicemesh-2.0.9-3.el8, servicemesh-istioctl-2.0.9-3.el8 +6

Vendor assessments

Red Hat

Red Hat rating: Moderate. Red Hat's page for this CVE →

ProductStatusPlan or fix
OpenShift Service Mesh 2.0Fixed RHSA-2022:1276
OpenShift Service Mesh 2.1Fixed RHSA-2022:1275
Not affected: 2 products
  • OpenShift Service Mesh 2.0
  • OpenShift Service Mesh 2.1

Timeline

  1. 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2022-23635
  2. 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-856q-xv3c-7f2f

References

  • TI-2026-79288 Out-of-bounds write in Google Brotli decoder KEVCVSS 4.0CRITICAL 9.2
  • TI-2023-23979 The HTTP/2 protocol allows a denial of service (server resource consumption) because… KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
  • TI-2022-06055 Authorization Policy bypass in Istio CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
  • TI-2021-11909 Istio before 1.8.6 and 1.9.x before 1.9.5 contains a remotely exploitable vulnerability… CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
  • TI-2026-24390 Istio JWKS resolver to prevent private key material from being exposed when JWKS fetch fails. CVSS 4.0HIGH 8.7
  • TI-2022-13090 Ill-formed headers may lead to unexpected behavior in Istio CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
See all 28 →

Sources