{"id":"CVE-2023-41333","aliases":["GHSA-4xp2-w642-7mcx","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","GO-2023-2080"],"title":"Cilium vulnerable to bypass of namespace restrictions in CiliumNetworkPolicy ","summary":"Cilium vulnerable to bypass of namespace restrictions in CiliumNetworkPolicy ","severity":"medium","cvss":6.9,"cvssVector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:N/A:H","vendor":"cilium","product":"github.com/cilium/cilium","ecosystem":"go","affected":["github.com/cilium/cilium >= 1.14.0, < 1.14.2","github.com/cilium/cilium >= 1.13.0, < 1.13.7","github.com/cilium/cilium < 1.12.14"],"patched":["github.com/cilium/cilium 1.14.2","github.com/cilium/cilium 1.13.7","github.com/cilium/cilium 1.12.14"],"published":"2023-09-27","updated":"2026-09-10","sourceUpdated":"2026-09-10T03:49:57.766721289Z","source":"OSV","sourceUrl":"https://osv.dev/vulnerability/GHSA-4xp2-w642-7mcx","references":[{"url":"https://github.com/cilium/cilium/security/advisories/GHSA-4xp2-w642-7mcx"},{"url":"https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-41333"},{"url":"https://github.com/cilium/cilium/pull/28007"},{"url":"https://docs.cilium.io/en/stable/security/threat-model/#kubernetes-api-server-attacker"},{"url":"https://github.com/cilium/cilium"}],"tags":["osv","go"],"epss":0.00408,"epssPercentile":0.34718,"ingestedAt":"2026-09-12T03:13:01.754Z","slug":"CVE-2023-41333","body":"## Overview\n\n### Impact\n\nAn 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.\n\nBy 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.\n\nThis attack requires API server access, as described in the [Kubernetes API Server Attacker](https://docs.cilium.io/en/stable/security/threat-model/#kubernetes-api-server-attacker) section of the Cilium Threat Model.\n\n### Patches\n\nThis issue was patched in https://github.com/cilium/cilium/pull/28007\n\nThis issue affects:\n\n- Cilium <= v1.14.1\n- Cilium <= v1.13.6\n- Cilium <= v1.12.13\n\nThis issue has been resolved in:\n\n- Cilium v1.14.2\n- Cilium v1.13.7\n- Cilium v1.12.14\n\n### Workarounds\n\nAn admission webhook can be used to prevent the use of `endpointSelector`s that use the `DoesNotExist` operator on the `reserved:init` label in CiliumNetworkPolicies.\n\n### Acknowledgements\nThe Cilium community has worked together with members of Palantir and Isovalent to prepare these mitigations. Special thanks to @odinuge for reporting this issue and @joestringer for the fix.\n\n### For more information\nIf you have any questions or comments about this advisory, please reach out on [Slack](https://docs.cilium.io/en/latest/community/community/#slack).\n\nIf you think you have found a vulnerability in Cilium, we strongly encourage you to report it to our private security mailing list at [security@cilium.io](mailto:security@cilium.io) first, before disclosing it in any public forum. This is a private mailing list for Cilium's internal security team, and your report will be treated as top priority. \n\n## Affected packages\n\n- `github.com/cilium/cilium >= 1.14.0, < 1.14.2`\n- `github.com/cilium/cilium >= 1.13.0, < 1.13.7`\n- `github.com/cilium/cilium < 1.12.14`\n\n## Remediation\n\nUpgrade to a patched release:\n\n- `github.com/cilium/cilium 1.14.2`\n- `github.com/cilium/cilium 1.13.7`\n- `github.com/cilium/cilium 1.12.14`","depth":"sunlit","depthScore":38,"depthScoreParts":{"impact":38,"likelihood":0.1,"exploitation":0,"ransomware":0},"changes":[]}