Envoy gRPC client produces invalid protobuf when an HTTP header with non-UTF8 value is received.
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- —
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- High · High · High
- Fix status
- Partial Red Hat: 1 fixed, 1 without a fix
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · NVD. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat.
Summary
Envoy is an open source edge and service proxy designed for cloud-native applications. Prior to versions 1.26.0, 1.25.3, 1.24.4, 1.23.6, and 1.22.9, escalation of privileges is possible when `failure_mode_allow: true` is configured for `ext_authz` filter. For affected components that are used for logging and/or visibility, requests may not be logged by the receiving service. When Envoy was configured to use ext_authz, ext_proc, tap, ratelimit filters, and grpc access log service and an http header with non-UTF-8 data was received, Envoy would generate an invalid protobuf message and send it to the configured service. The receiving service would typically generate an error when decoding the protobuf message. For ext_authz that was configured with ``failure_mode_allow: true``, the request would have been allowed in this case. For the other services, this could have resulted in other unforeseen errors such as a lack of visibility into requests. As of versions 1.26.0, 1.25.3, 1.24.4, 1.23.6, and 1.22.9, Envoy by default sanitizes the values sent in gRPC service calls to be valid UTF-8, replacing data that is not valid UTF-8 with a `!` character. This behavioral change can be temporarily reverted by setting runtime guard `envoy.reloadable_features.service_sanitize_non_utf8_strings` to false. As a workaround, one may set `failure_mode_allow: false` for `ext_authz`.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- None
- Automatable
- No
- Technical impact
- Partial
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| envoyproxy | envoy | 1.25.0 to before 1.25.3; 1.24.0 to before 1.24.4; 1.23.0 to before 1.23.6; before 1.22.9 | 1.25.3, 1.24.4, 1.23.6, 1.22.9 | Patch available | CNA |
- envoy Vendorenvoyproxy Affected 1.25.0 to before 1.25.3; 1.24.0 to before 1.24.4; 1.23.0 to before 1.23.6; before 1.22.9 Fixed in 1.25.3, 1.24.4, 1.23.6, 1.22.9 Patch available CNA
CPE configurations NVD · 1
| CPE | Versions | Role | Vendor |
|---|---|---|---|
| cpe:2.3:a:envoyproxy:envoy:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | before 1.22.9; 1.23.0 to before 1.23.6; 1.24.0 to before 1.24.4; 1.25.0 to before 1.25.3 | Vulnerable | envoyproxy |
- cpe:2.3:a:envoyproxy:envoy:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions before 1.22.9; 1.23.0 to before 1.23.6; 1.24.0 to before 1.24.4; 1.25.0 to before 1.25.3 Vulnerable ·envoyproxy
Remediation
- Fix · CNA envoy (envoyproxy) Fixed in 1.25.3, 1.24.4, 1.23.6, 1.22.9
Red Hat 1 advisory
- RHSA-2023:4623 Released 2023-08-11 · Red Hat rating ImportantRed Hat OpenShift Service Mesh 2.2.9 security update
- RHOSSM 2.2 for RHEL 8 openshift-service-mesh/proxyv2-rhel8
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Important. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
| Product | Status | Plan or fix |
|---|---|---|
| OpenShift Service Mesh 2.1 | Affected | No fix planned: Will not fix |
| RHOSSM 2.2 for RHEL 8 | Fixed | RHSA-2023:4623 |
Not affected: 1 product
- RHOSSM 2.2 for RHEL 8
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2023-27488
References
More envoyproxy Envoy vulnerabilities
- 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-2024-20001 HTTP/2: CPU exhaustion due to CONTINUATION frame flood CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
- TI-2024-18524 HTTP/2: memory exhaustion due to CONTINUATION frame flood CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
- TI-2023-12215 Envoy client may fake the header `x-envoy-original-path` CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.1
- TI-2023-18002 Envoy vulnerable to OAuth2 credentials exploit with permanent validity CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
Sources
- CVE-2023-27488 · CVE Program
- CVE-2023-27488 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- CVE-2023-27488 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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