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TI-2023-20486 Aliases CVE-2023-39347GHSA-gj2r-phwg-6rww

Cilium NetworkPolicy bypass via pod labels

Priority MEDIUM 40CWE-345Published · Updated

Key facts

Attack vector
Adjacent 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 · NVD. Fix status from CNA and GitHub. Impact type from CWE-345.

Summary

Cilium is a networking, observability, and security solution with an eBPF-based dataplane. An attacker with the ability to update pod labels can cause Cilium to apply incorrect network policies. This issue arises due to the fact that on pod update, Cilium incorrectly uses user-provided pod labels to select the policies which apply to the workload in question. This can affect Cilium network policies that use the namespace, service account or cluster constructs to restrict traffic, Cilium clusterwide network policies that use Cilium namespace labels to select the Pod and Kubernetes network policies. Non-existent construct names can be provided, which bypass all network policies applicable to the construct. For example, providing a pod with a non-existent namespace as the value of the `io.kubernetes.pod.namespace` label results in none of the namespaced CiliumNetworkPolicies applying to the pod in question. This attack requires the attacker to have Kubernetes API Server access, as described in the Cilium Threat Model. This issue has been resolved in: Cilium versions 1.14.2, 1.13.7, and 1.12.14. Users are advised to upgrade. As a workaround an admission webhook can be used to prevent pod label updates to the `k8s:io.kubernetes.pod.namespace` and `io.cilium.k8s.policy.*` keys.

Why it matters now

Exploitation None reported CISA SSVC · not in CISA KEV
EPSS 0.0057 47th percentileScored 2026-11-07
Public exploit Yes 1 exploit referenceTagged by NVD
Fix Fixed cilium (cilium): 1.14.2, 1.13.7, 1.12.14github.com/cilium/cilium (Go): 1.13.7, 1.14.2, 1.12.14

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

VendorProductAffected versionsFixed inStatusSource
ciliumcilium1.14.0 to before 1.14.2; 1.13.0 to before 1.13.7; before 1.12.141.14.2, 1.13.7, 1.12.14Patch availableCNA
—github.com/cilium/cilium (Go)1.13.0 to before 1.13.71.13.7Patch availableGHSA-gj2r-phwg-6rww
—github.com/cilium/cilium (Go)1.14.0 to before 1.14.21.14.2Patch availableGHSA-gj2r-phwg-6rww
—github.com/cilium/cilium (Go)before 1.12.141.12.14Patch availableGHSA-gj2r-phwg-6rww
  • cilium Vendorcilium Affected 1.14.0 to before 1.14.2; 1.13.0 to before 1.13.7; before 1.12.14 Fixed in 1.14.2, 1.13.7, 1.12.14 Patch available CNA
  • github.com/cilium/cilium (Go) Vendor— Affected 1.13.0 to before 1.13.7 Fixed in 1.13.7 Patch available GHSA-gj2r-phwg-6rww
  • github.com/cilium/cilium (Go) Vendor— Affected 1.14.0 to before 1.14.2 Fixed in 1.14.2 Patch available GHSA-gj2r-phwg-6rww
  • github.com/cilium/cilium (Go) Vendor— Affected before 1.12.14 Fixed in 1.12.14 Patch available GHSA-gj2r-phwg-6rww

CPE configurations NVD · 1

CPEVersionsRoleVendor
cpe:2.3:a:cilium:cilium:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*before 1.12.14; 1.13.0 to before 1.13.7; 1.14.0 to before 1.14.2Vulnerablecilium
  • cpe:2.3:a:cilium:cilium:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions before 1.12.14; 1.13.0 to before 1.13.7; 1.14.0 to before 1.14.2 Vulnerable ·cilium

Remediation

  • Fix · CNA cilium (cilium) Fixed in 1.14.2, 1.13.7, 1.12.14
  • Fix · GHSA-gj2r-phwg-6rww github.com/cilium/cilium (Go) Fixed in 1.13.7 Advisory →
  • Fix · GHSA-gj2r-phwg-6rww github.com/cilium/cilium (Go) Fixed in 1.14.2 Advisory →
  • Fix · GHSA-gj2r-phwg-6rww github.com/cilium/cilium (Go) Fixed in 1.12.14 Advisory →

Timeline

  1. 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2023-39347
  2. 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-gj2r-phwg-6rww

References

Exploit 1

Advisory 2

Other 1

  • TI-2024-32092 CIDR deny policies may not take effect when a more narrow CIDR allow is present CVSS 3.1HIGH 8.7
  • TI-2023-12305 Cilium eBPF filters may be temporarily removed during agent restart CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
  • TI-2022-11721 Incorrect Default Permissions in Cilium CVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
  • TI-2026-36600 Cilium: Sensitive information disclosure and cluster disruption via local Envoy admin socket access CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.2
  • TI-2026-40915 Cilium: Namespaced HTTPRoutes can redirect traffic to other namespaces CVSS 3.1HIGH 8.9
  • TI-2022-11722 Improper Privilege Management in Cilium CVSS 3.1HIGH 8.2
See all 34 →

Sources

This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Sources and licences