CVE-2023-41333

Bypass of namespace restrictions in CiliumNetworkPolicy

HIGH
8.1
CVSS Score
Published: September 26, 2023 at 08:19 PM UTC
Updated: June 17, 2026 at 06:21 AM UTC
1 product affected across 1 vendorCilium

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Severity
HIGH8.1
Exploit prediction
EPSS 0.5%
SSVC
No known exploit

Description

Cilium is a networking, observability, and security solution with an eBPF-based dataplane. An attacker with the ability to create or modify CiliumNetworkPolicy objects in a particular namespace is able to affect traffic on an entire Cilium cluster, potentially bypassing policy enforcement in other namespaces. By using a crafted `endpointSelector` that uses the `DoesNotExist` operator on the `reserved:init` label, the attacker can create policies that bypass namespace restrictions and affect the entire Cilium cluster. This includes potentially allowing or denying all traffic. This attack requires API server access, as described in the Kubernetes API Server Attacker section of the Cilium Threat Model. This issue has been resolved in Cilium versions 1.14.2, 1.13.7, and 1.12.14. As a workaround an admission webhook can be used to prevent the use of `endpointSelectors` that use the `DoesNotExist` operator on the `reserved:init` label in CiliumNetworkPolicies.

Affected

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

v < 1.12.14v < 1.13.7v < 1.14.21.13.0 ≤ v < 1.13.71.14.0 ≤ v < 1.14.2
Affected range stops below 1.12.14, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Affected range stops below 1.13.7, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Affected range stops below 1.14.2, 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
ADJACENT_NETWORK
Complexity
LOW
Privileges
HIGH
User Interaction
NONE
Scope
CHANGED
Confidentiality
NONE
Integrity
HIGH
Availability
HIGH
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusMODIFIED
CWE
CWE-306

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