CVE-2023-32191: rke's credentials are stored in the RKE1 Cluster state ConfigMap

Severity: critical (CVSS 9.9 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.7% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2024-10-16 · updated 2026-06-17
Weakness: CWE-922

Description

When RKE provisions a cluster, it stores the cluster state in a configmap called `full-cluster-state` inside the `kube-system` namespace of the cluster itself. The information available in there allows non-admin users to escalate to admin.

Affected products

SUSE rke: from 1.4.18 before 1.4.19; from 1.5.9 before 1.5.10 — fixed in 1.4.19, 1.5.10

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: SUSE rke 1.4.19, 1.5.10. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

https://bugzilla.suse.com/show_bug.cgi?id=CVE-2023-32191
https://github.com/rancher/rke/security/advisories/GHSA-6gr4-52w6-vmqx

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