What’s Vulnerable › Vulnerabilities

CVE-2024-9594: VM images built with Image Builder with some providers use default credentials during builds

• Severity: high (CVSS 8.1 v3.1)
• Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
• EPSS: 1.7% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
• Public exploit or detection template: none known
• Published: 2024-10-15 · updated 2026-06-17
• Weakness: CWE-798

Description

A security issue was discovered in the Kubernetes Image Builder versions <= v0.1.37 where default credentials are enabled during the image build process when using the Nutanix, OVA, QEMU or raw providers. The credentials can be used to gain root access. The credentials are disabled at the conclusion of the image build process. Kubernetes clusters are only affected if their nodes use VM images created via the Image Builder project. Because these images were vulnerable during the image build process, they are affected only if an attacker was able to reach the VM where the image build was happening and used the vulnerability to modify the image at the time the image build was occurring.

Affected products

• Kubernetes Image Builder: before 0.1.38 — fixed in 0.1.38

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Kubernetes Image Builder 0.1.38. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

• https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/image-builder/pull/1596
• https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/issues/128007
• https://groups.google.com/g/kubernetes-security-announce/c/UKJG-oZogfA/m/Lu1hcnHmAQAJ

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