CVE-2023-23939

Azure/setup-kubectl: Escalation of privilege vulnerability for v3 and lower

HIGH
7
CVSS Score
Published: March 6, 2023 at 06:19 PM UTC
Updated: June 17, 2026 at 05:38 AM UTC
2 products affected across 2 vendorsAzure Setup KubectlAzure Setup Kubectl

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Severity
HIGH7
Exploit prediction
EPSS 0.4%
SSVC
No known exploit

Description

Azure/setup-kubectl is a GitHub Action for installing Kubectl. This vulnerability only impacts versions before version 3. An insecure temporary creation of a file allows other actors on the Actions runner to replace the Kubectl binary created by this action because it is world writable. This Kubectl tool installer runs `fs.chmodSync(kubectlPath, 777)` to set permissions on the Kubectl binary, however, this allows any local user to replace the Kubectl binary. This allows privilege escalation to the user that can also run kubectl, most likely root. This attack is only possible if an attacker somehow breached the GitHub actions runner or if a user is utilizing an Action that maliciously executes this attack. This has been fixed and released in all versions `v3` and later. 775 permissions are used instead. Users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this issue.

Affected

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

v < 3.0
Affected range stops below 3.0, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
v < 3
Affected range stops below 3, 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:

SSVC — Action Prioritization

SSVCNo known exploitNot automatablePartial impact

SSVC signals action urgency (what to patch first), separate from CVSS which measures severity.

CVSS

Attack Vector
LOCAL
Complexity
HIGH
Privileges
LOW
User Interaction
NONE
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality
HIGH
Integrity
HIGH
Availability
HIGH
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusMODIFIED
CWE
CWE-732

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