# CVE-2022-21701: Privileged Escalation in Istio

> Users with CREATE permissions on Gateway API objects can escalate privileges to create unauthorized resources like Pods in Istio.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.0 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 19 Jan 2022
- **Updated:** 23 Apr 2025
- **Also known as:** GHSA-mq8f-9446-c28r

## What is CVE-2022-21701?

CVE-2022-21701 is a medium-severity vulnerability in istio, published on 19 Jan 2022. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Istio is an open platform to connect, manage, and secure microservices. In versions 1.12.0 and 1.12.1 Istio is vulnerable to a privilege escalation attack. Users who have `CREATE` permission for `gateways.gateway.networking.k8s.io` objects can escalate this privilege to create other resources that they may not have access to, such as `Pod`. This vulnerability impacts only an Alpha level feature, the Kubernetes Gateway API. This is not the same as the Istio Gateway type (gateways.networking.istio.io), which is not vulnerable. Users are advised to upgrade to resolve this issue. Users unable to upgrade should implement any of the following which will prevent this vulnerability: Remove the gateways.gateway.networking.k8s.io CustomResourceDefinition, set PILOT_ENABLE_GATEWAY_API_DEPLOYMENT_CONTROLLER=true environment variable in Istiod, or remove CREATE permissions for gateways.gateway.networking.k8s.io objects from untrusted users.

Weakness: CWE-863 (Incorrect Authorization)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-21701?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Istio Istio.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-21701?

No fix has been published for CVE-2022-21701 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2022-21701 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-21701 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in istio

- [CVE-2021-31921](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-31921/): Missing authorization in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2021-34824](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-34824/): Information disclosure in n/a (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2026-31837](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-31837/): Istio JWKS resolver to prevent private key material from being exposed when JWKS fetch fails. (high 8.7)
- [CVE-2021-39155](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-39155/): Authorization Policy Bypass Due to Case Insensitive Host Comparison (high 8.3)
- [CVE-2021-39156](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-39156/): Fragments in Path May Lead to Authorization Policy Bypass (high 8.1)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2022-21701 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-21701 is a medium-severity vulnerability in istio, published on 19 Jan 2022. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-21701 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: istio. 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-2022-21701/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-21701/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-21701
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-21701
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-21701

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-21701/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.