# CVE-2017-12195: Auth bypass in OpenShift

> Attackers can bypass authentication to access Elasticsearch indices if an external route is configured, requiring knowledge of the authentication name.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.5 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 27 Jul 2018
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-f727-j88g-p3m8, RHSA-2017:3188, RHSA-2017:3389

## What is CVE-2017-12195?

CVE-2017-12195 is a medium-severity authentication bypass vulnerability in Redhat Openshift Container Platform, published on 27 Jul 2018. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A flaw was found in all Openshift Enterprise versions using the openshift elasticsearch plugin. An attacker with knowledge of the given name used to authenticate and access Elasticsearch can later access it without the token, bypassing authentication. This attack also requires that the Elasticsearch be configured with an external route, and the data accessed is limited to the indices.

Weakness: CWE-295 (Improper Certificate Validation), CWE-287 (Improper Authentication)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2017-12195?

It affects 1 product.


| Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `atomic-openshift` | Red Hat:openshift:3.4::el7 | All versions | 0:3.4.1.44.38-1.git.0.d04b8d5.el7 |
| `atomic-openshift-clients` | Red Hat:openshift:3.4::el7 | All versions | 0:3.4.1.44.38-1.git.0.d04b8d5.el7 |
| `atomic-openshift-clients-redistributable` | Red Hat:openshift:3.4::el7 | All versions | 0:3.4.1.44.38-1.git.0.d04b8d5.el7 |
| `atomic-openshift-docker-excluder` | Red Hat:openshift:3.4::el7 | All versions | 0:3.4.1.44.38-1.git.0.d04b8d5.el7 |
| `atomic-openshift-dockerregistry` | Red Hat:openshift:3.4::el7 | All versions | 0:3.4.1.44.38-1.git.0.d04b8d5.el7 |
| `atomic-openshift-excluder` | Red Hat:openshift:3.4::el7 | All versions | 0:3.4.1.44.38-1.git.0.d04b8d5.el7 |
| `atomic-openshift-master` | Red Hat:openshift:3.4::el7 | All versions | 0:3.4.1.44.38-1.git.0.d04b8d5.el7 |
| `atomic-openshift-node` | Red Hat:openshift:3.4::el7 | All versions | 0:3.4.1.44.38-1.git.0.d04b8d5.el7 |
| `atomic-openshift-pod` | Red Hat:openshift:3.4::el7 | All versions | 0:3.4.1.44.38-1.git.0.d04b8d5.el7 |
| `atomic-openshift-sdn-ovs` | Red Hat:openshift:3.4::el7 | All versions | 0:3.4.1.44.38-1.git.0.d04b8d5.el7 |
| `atomic-openshift-tests` | Red Hat:openshift:3.4::el7 | All versions | 0:3.4.1.44.38-1.git.0.d04b8d5.el7 |
| `cockpit` | Red Hat:openshift:3.4::el7 | All versions | 0:155-1.el7 |
| `cockpit-debuginfo` | Red Hat:openshift:3.4::el7 | All versions | 0:155-1.el7 |
| `cockpit-kubernetes` | Red Hat:openshift:3.4::el7 | All versions | 0:155-1.el7 |
| `openshift-elasticsearch-plugin` | Red Hat:openshift:3.4::el7 | All versions | 0:2.4.1.11__redhat_1-3.el7 |
| `tuned-profiles-atomic-openshift-node` | Red Hat:openshift:3.4::el7 | All versions | 0:3.4.1.44.38-1.git.0.d04b8d5.el7 |
| `atomic-openshift` | Red Hat:openshift:3.5::el7 | All versions | 0:3.5.5.31.47-1.git.0.25d535c.el7 |
| `atomic-openshift-clients` | Red Hat:openshift:3.5::el7 | All versions | 0:3.5.5.31.47-1.git.0.25d535c.el7 |
| `atomic-openshift-clients-redistributable` | Red Hat:openshift:3.5::el7 | All versions | 0:3.5.5.31.47-1.git.0.25d535c.el7 |
| `atomic-openshift-docker-excluder` | Red Hat:openshift:3.5::el7 | All versions | 0:3.5.5.31.47-1.git.0.25d535c.el7 |
| `atomic-openshift-dockerregistry` | Red Hat:openshift:3.5::el7 | All versions | 0:3.5.5.31.47-1.git.0.25d535c.el7 |
| `atomic-openshift-excluder` | Red Hat:openshift:3.5::el7 | All versions | 0:3.5.5.31.47-1.git.0.25d535c.el7 |
| `atomic-openshift-master` | Red Hat:openshift:3.5::el7 | All versions | 0:3.5.5.31.47-1.git.0.25d535c.el7 |
| `atomic-openshift-node` | Red Hat:openshift:3.5::el7 | All versions | 0:3.5.5.31.47-1.git.0.25d535c.el7 |
| `atomic-openshift-pod` | Red Hat:openshift:3.5::el7 | All versions | 0:3.5.5.31.47-1.git.0.25d535c.el7 |
| `atomic-openshift-sdn-ovs` | Red Hat:openshift:3.5::el7 | All versions | 0:3.5.5.31.47-1.git.0.25d535c.el7 |
| `atomic-openshift-tests` | Red Hat:openshift:3.5::el7 | All versions | 0:3.5.5.31.47-1.git.0.25d535c.el7 |
| `cockpit` | Red Hat:openshift:3.5::el7 | All versions | 0:155-1.el7 |
| `cockpit-debuginfo` | Red Hat:openshift:3.5::el7 | All versions | 0:155-1.el7 |
| `cockpit-kubernetes` | Red Hat:openshift:3.5::el7 | All versions | 0:155-1.el7 |
| `openshift-elasticsearch-plugin` | Red Hat:openshift:3.5::el7 | All versions | 0:2.4.4.17__redhat_1-3.el7 |
| `tuned-profiles-atomic-openshift-node` | Red Hat:openshift:3.5::el7 | All versions | 0:3.5.5.31.47-1.git.0.25d535c.el7 |
| `atomic-openshift` | Red Hat:openshift:3.6::el7 | All versions | 0:3.6.173.0.63-1.git.0.855ea8b.el7 |
| `atomic-openshift-clients` | Red Hat:openshift:3.6::el7 | All versions | 0:3.6.173.0.63-1.git.0.855ea8b.el7 |
| `atomic-openshift-clients-redistributable` | Red Hat:openshift:3.6::el7 | All versions | 0:3.6.173.0.63-1.git.0.855ea8b.el7 |
| `atomic-openshift-cluster-capacity` | Red Hat:openshift:3.6::el7 | All versions | 0:3.6.173.0.63-1.git.0.855ea8b.el7 |
| `atomic-openshift-docker-excluder` | Red Hat:openshift:3.6::el7 | All versions | 0:3.6.173.0.63-1.git.0.855ea8b.el7 |
| `atomic-openshift-dockerregistry` | Red Hat:openshift:3.6::el7 | All versions | 0:3.6.173.0.63-1.git.0.855ea8b.el7 |
| `atomic-openshift-excluder` | Red Hat:openshift:3.6::el7 | All versions | 0:3.6.173.0.63-1.git.0.855ea8b.el7 |
| `atomic-openshift-federation-services` | Red Hat:openshift:3.6::el7 | All versions | 0:3.6.173.0.63-1.git.0.855ea8b.el7 |

Products: Redhat Openshift Container Platform.

## How do I fix CVE-2017-12195?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2017-12195 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2017-12195 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Redhat Openshift Container Platform

- [CVE-2020-27836](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-27836/): Missing authorization in cluster-ingress-operator (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2018-1085](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-1085/): Misconfiguration in openshift-ansible (critical 9.0)
- [CVE-2026-54099](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-54099/): Privilege escalation in Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2026-1784](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-1784/): Ose-cluster-ingress-operator: remote code execution through haproxy configuration injection (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2021-20182](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-20182/): Privilege escalation in openshift (high 8.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2017-12195 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2017-12195 is a medium-severity authentication bypass vulnerability in Redhat Openshift Container Platform, published on 27 Jul 2018. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2017-12195 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Redhat Openshift Container Platform. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-12195/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-12195/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2017-12195
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2017-12195
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2017-12195

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-12195/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.
