CVE-2022-36035: Flux CLI Workload Injection

Severity: high (CVSS 7.8 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.3% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2022-08-31 · updated 2026-06-17
Weakness: CWE-22

Description

Flux is a tool for keeping Kubernetes clusters in sync with sources of configuration (like Git repositories), and automating updates to configuration when there is new code to deploy. Flux CLI allows users to deploy Flux components into a Kubernetes cluster via command-line. The vulnerability allows other applications to replace the Flux deployment information with arbitrary content which is deployed into the target Kubernetes cluster instead. The vulnerability is due to the improper handling of user-supplied input, which results in a path traversal that can be controlled by the attacker. Users sharing the same shell between other applications and the Flux CLI commands could be affected by this vulnerability. In some scenarios no errors may be presented, which may cause end users not to realize that something is amiss. A safe workaround is to execute Flux CLI in ephemeral and isolated shell environments, which can ensure no persistent values exist from previous processes. However, upgrading to the latest version of the CLI is still the recommended mitigation strategy.

Affected products

fluxcd flux2: from 0.21.0 before 0.32.0 — fixed in 0.32.0

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: fluxcd flux2 0.32.0. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

Get alerted when CVE-2022-36035 or the next vulnerability affects your stack