CVE-2020-26278

Weave Net Pods running in host PID namespace can be used to escalate other Kubernetes vulnerabilities

HIGH
8
CVSS Score
Published: January 20, 2021 at 10:10 PM UTC
Updated: June 17, 2026 at 03:07 AM UTC
2 products affected across 2 vendorsWeaveWeave

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Severity
HIGH8
Exploit prediction
EPSS 0.7%

Description

Weave Net is open source software which creates a virtual network that connects Docker containers across multiple hosts and enables their automatic discovery. Weave Net before version 2.8.0 has a vulnerability in which can allow an attacker to take over any host in the cluster. Weave Net is supplied with a manifest that runs pods on every node in a Kubernetes cluster, which are responsible for managing network connections for all other pods in the cluster. This requires a lot of power over the host, and the manifest sets `privileged: true`, which gives it that power. It also set `hostPID: true`, which gave it the ability to access all other processes on the host, and write anywhere in the root filesystem of the host. This setting was not necessary, and is being removed. You are only vulnerable if you have an additional vulnerability (e.g. a bug in Kubernetes) or misconfiguration that allows an attacker to run code inside the Weave Net pod, No such bug is known at the time of release, and there are no known instances of this being exploited. Weave Net 2.8.0 removes the hostPID setting and moves CNI plugin install to an init container. Users who do not update to 2.8.0 can edit the hostPID line in their existing DaemonSet manifest to say false instead of true, arrange some other way to install CNI plugins (e.g. Ansible) and remove those mounts from the DaemonSet manifest.

Affected

Our own answer: ranges merged, affected separated from platform-only, with confidence and review flags.

v < 2.8.0
Affected range stops below 2.8.0, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
v < 2.8.0
Affected range stops below 2.8.0, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement

Remediation

No guide yet

No remediation guidance has been written for this CVE yet. What the record does show:

CVSS

Attack Vector
ADJACENT_NETWORK
Complexity
HIGH
Privileges
LOW
User Interaction
NONE
Scope
CHANGED
Confidentiality
HIGH
Integrity
HIGH
Availability
HIGH
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusMODIFIED
CWE
CWE-250

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