Capsule vulnerable to privilege escalation by ServiceAccount deployed in a Tenant Namespace
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- Security bypass
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- High · High · High
- Fix status
- Fixed
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA and GitHub. Impact type from CWE-863.
Summary
Capsule is a multi-tenancy and policy-based framework for Kubernetes. Prior to version 0.1.3, a ServiceAccount deployed in a Tenant Namespace, when granted with `PATCH` capabilities on its own Namespace, is able to edit it and remove the Owner Reference, breaking the reconciliation of the Capsule Operator and removing all the enforcement like Pod Security annotations, Network Policies, Limit Range and Resource Quota items. An attacker could detach the Namespace from a Tenant that is forbidding starting privileged Pods using the Pod Security labels by removing the OwnerReference, removing the enforcement labels, and being able to start privileged containers that would be able to start a generic Kubernetes privilege escalation. Patches have been released for version 0.1.3. No known workarounds are available.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- None
- Automatable
- No
- Technical impact
- Total
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| clastix | capsule | before 0.1.3 | 0.1.3 | Patch available | CNA |
| — | github.com/clastix/capsule (Go) | before 0.1.3 | 0.1.3 | Patch available | GHSA-x45c-cvp8-q4fm |
- capsule Vendorclastix Affected before 0.1.3 Fixed in 0.1.3 Patch available CNA
- github.com/clastix/capsule (Go) Vendor— Affected before 0.1.3 Fixed in 0.1.3 Patch available GHSA-x45c-cvp8-q4fm
Remediation
- Fix · CNA capsule (clastix) Fixed in 0.1.3
- Fix · GHSA-x45c-cvp8-q4fm github.com/clastix/capsule (Go) Fixed in 0.1.3 Advisory →
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2022-46167
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-x45c-cvp8-q4fm
References
Patch 3
Advisory 2
More clastix Capsule vulnerabilities
- TI-2023-24881 Service accounts can see namespaces of other tenants in capsule-proxy CVSS 3.1MEDIUM 4.3
Sources
- CVE-2022-46167 · CVE Program
- CVE-2022-46167 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-x45c-cvp8-q4fm · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Sources and licences