ingress-nginx admission controller RCE escalation
Priority CRITICAL 94CWE-653Published · Updated
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- —
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- High · High · High
- Fix status
- Fixed
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA and GitHub.
Summary
A security issue was discovered in Kubernetes where under certain conditions, an unauthenticated attacker with access to the pod network can achieve arbitrary code execution in the context of the ingress-nginx controller. This can lead to disclosure of Secrets accessible to the controller. (Note that in the default installation, the controller can access all Secrets cluster-wide.)
Why it matters now
Exploitation Proof of concept CISA SSVC · not in CISA KEV
EPSS 0.994 99th percentileScored 2026-11-07
Fix Fixed k8s.io/ingress-nginx (Go): 1.11.5, 1.12.1
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- Poc
- Automatable
- Yes
- 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kubernetes | ingress-nginx | up to 1.11.4; 1.12.0 | — | No fix listed | CNA |
| — | k8s.io/ingress-nginx (Go) | before 1.11.5 | 1.11.5 | Patch available | GHSA-mgvx-rpfc-9mpv |
| — | k8s.io/ingress-nginx (Go) | 1.12.0-beta.0 to before 1.12.1 | 1.12.1 | Patch available | GHSA-mgvx-rpfc-9mpv |
- ingress-nginx VendorKubernetes Affected up to 1.11.4; 1.12.0 Fixed in — No fix listed CNA
- k8s.io/ingress-nginx (Go) Vendor— Affected before 1.11.5 Fixed in 1.11.5 Patch available GHSA-mgvx-rpfc-9mpv
- k8s.io/ingress-nginx (Go) Vendor— Affected 1.12.0-beta.0 to before 1.12.1 Fixed in 1.12.1 Patch available GHSA-mgvx-rpfc-9mpv
Remediation
- Fix · GHSA-mgvx-rpfc-9mpv k8s.io/ingress-nginx (Go) Fixed in 1.11.5 Advisory →
- Fix · GHSA-mgvx-rpfc-9mpv k8s.io/ingress-nginx (Go) Fixed in 1.12.1 Advisory →
Vendor assessments
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2025-1974
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-mgvx-rpfc-9mpv
References
Other 9
- https://https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/issues/131009
- https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/issues/131009
- https://github.com/B1ack4sh/Blackash-CVE-2025-1974
- https://github.com/kubernetes/ingress-nginx
- https://github.com/kubernetes/ingress-nginx/releases/tag/controller-v1.11.5
- https://github.com/kubernetes/ingress-nginx/releases/tag/controller-v1.12.1
- https://groups.google.com/g/kubernetes-security-announce/c/2qa9DFtN0cQ
- https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20250328-0008
- https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/52475
More Kubernetes vulnerabilities
- TI-2018-16130 Improper privilege management in Kubernetes CVSS 3.0CRITICAL 9.8
- TI-2025-00932 ingress-nginx controller - configuration injection via unsanitized mirror annotations CVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
- TI-2019-08418 Kubernetes kubelet exposes /debug/pprof info on healthz port CVSS 3.1HIGH 8.2
- TI-2026-02839 ingress-nginx rewrite-target nginx configuration injection CVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
- TI-2025-18233 ingress-nginx controller - configuration injection via unsanitized auth-url annotation CVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
- TI-2025-00931 ingress-nginx controller - configuration injection via unsanitized auth-tls-match-cn annotation CVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
Sources
- CVE-2025-1974 · CVE Program
- CVE-2025-1974 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-mgvx-rpfc-9mpv · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2025-1974 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Sources and licences