{"id":"CVE-2023-26484","url":"https://www.cyber-defence.io/tools/cve/CVE-2023-26484","generatedAt":"2026-10-23T14:06:57.459Z","title":"In versions 0.59.0 and prior, if a malicious user has taken over a Kubernetes node where virt-handler (the KubeVirt node-daemon) is running, the virt-handler service account can be used to modify all node specs.","description":"KubeVirt is a virtual machine management add-on for Kubernetes. In versions 0.59.0 and prior, if a malicious user has taken over a Kubernetes node where virt-handler (the KubeVirt node-daemon) is running, the virt-handler service account can be used to modify all node specs. This can be misused to lure-in system-level-privileged components which can, for instance, read all secrets on the cluster, or can exec into pods on other nodes. This way, a compromised node can be used to elevate privileges beyond the node until potentially having full privileged access to the whole cluster. The simplest way to exploit this, once a user could compromise a specific node, is to set with the virt-handler service account all other nodes to unschedulable and simply wait until system-critical components with high privileges appear on its node. No patches are available as of time of publication. As a workaround, gatekeeper users can add a webhook which will block the `virt-handler` service account to modify the spec of a node.","published":"2023-03-15T21:15:09.000Z","lastModified":"2026-06-17T05:43:26.000Z","status":"Modified","sourceIdentifier":"security-advisories@github.com","cvss":{"version":"3.1","score":8.2,"severity":"HIGH","vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N"},"cwe":["CWE-863"],"affected":["kubevirt/kubevirt"],"epss":{"score":0.00611,"percentile":0.48613,"date":"2026-10-22","history":[]},"kev":{"listed":false},"exploits":{"count":0,"verified":false,"firstPublished":null,"source":"Exploit-DB (https://gitlab.com/exploit-database/exploitdb)","entries":[]},"verdict":{"level":"high","text":"High impact if exploited, but EPSS currently rates exploitation as unlikely (0.61%). Schedule it in the normal patch cycle and watch for a rise in EPSS or a public exploit."},"changes":[],"references":[{"url":"https://github.com/kubevirt/kubevirt/issues/9109","tags":["Issue Tracking","Third Party Advisory"],"source":"security-advisories@github.com"},{"url":"https://github.com/kubevirt/kubevirt/security/advisories/GHSA-cp96-jpmq-xrr2","tags":["Mitigation","Vendor Advisory"],"source":"security-advisories@github.com"},{"url":"https://github.com/kubevirt/kubevirt/issues/9109","tags":["Issue Tracking","Third Party Advisory"],"source":"af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108"},{"url":"https://github.com/kubevirt/kubevirt/security/advisories/GHSA-cp96-jpmq-xrr2","tags":["Mitigation","Vendor Advisory"],"source":"af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108"}],"sources":{"nvd":"https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-26484","epss":"https://www.first.org/epss/","kev":"https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog","exploitdb":"https://www.exploit-db.com/"},"licence":"CC BY 4.0 — link back to the CVE Explorer if you publish the results; upstream data remains subject to its own terms."}