CVE-2026-33413
Prior to versions 3.4.42, 3.5.28, and 3.6.9, unauthorized users may bypass authentication or authorization checks and call certain etcd functions in clusters that expose the gRPC API to untrusted or partially trusted clients.
Does this matter?
High impact if exploited, but EPSS currently rates exploitation as unlikely (0.26%). Schedule it in the normal patch cycle and watch for a rise in EPSS or a public exploit.
Description
etcd is a distributed key-value store for the data of a distributed system. Prior to versions 3.4.42, 3.5.28, and 3.6.9, unauthorized users may bypass authentication or authorization checks and call certain etcd functions in clusters that expose the gRPC API to untrusted or partially trusted clients. In unpatched etcd clusters with etcd auth enabled, unauthorized users are able to call MemberList and learn cluster topology, including member IDs and advertised endpoints; call Alarm, which can be abused for operational disruption or denial of service; use Lease APIs, interfering with TTL-based keys and lease ownership; and/or trigger compaction, permanently removing historical revisions and disrupting watch, audit, and recovery workflows. Kubernetes does not rely on etcd’s built-in authentication and authorization. Instead, the API server handles authentication and authorization itself, so typical Kubernetes deployments are not affected. Versions 3.4.42, 3.5.28, and 3.6.9 contain a patch. If upgrading is not immediately possible, reduce exposure by treating the affected RPCs as unauthenticated in practice. Restrict network access to etcd server ports so only trusted components can connect and/or require strong client identity at the transport layer, such as mTLS with tightly scoped client certificate distribution.
- CVSS 4.0
- 8.8 HIGHCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:L/VI:L/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/M
- EPSS
- 0.26% probability · 17th percentile
- Public exploits
- None in Exploit-DB
- CISA KEV
- Not listed
- Weakness
- CWE-862
- Affected
- etcd/etcd
- Source
- security-advisories@github.com
EPSS 0.3% since 26 October 2026; no change recorded yet. Points are recorded when the score first appears and whenever it moves by a percentage point or more.
References
- https://github.com/etcd-io/etcd/security/advisories/GHSA-q8m4-xhhv-38mgMitigation, Vendor Advisory
Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA, exploits from Exploit-DB. Refreshed daily. Download this record as JSON.