# CVE-2023-5408: Openshift: modification of node role labels

> Remote attackers can modify node role labels to steer control plane workloads, gaining broader cluster access and privilege escalation.

- **Severity:** High 7.2 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** An administrator
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 2 Nov 2023
- **Updated:** 7 Nov 2025
- **Also known as:** AZL-31786, AZL-34898, GHSA-7664-m5hw-r7q8

## What is CVE-2023-5408?

CVE-2023-5408 is a high-severity vulnerability in Redhat Openshift Container Platform, published on 2 Nov 2023. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A privilege escalation flaw was found in the node restriction admission plugin of the kubernetes api server of OpenShift. A remote attacker who modifies the node role label could steer workloads from the control plane and etcd nodes onto different worker nodes and gain broader access to the cluster.

Weakness: CWE-269 (Improper Privilege Management)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-5408?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Redhat Openshift Container Platform.

## How do I fix CVE-2023-5408?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2023-5408 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-5408 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-2023-5408 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2023-5408 is a high-severity vulnerability in Redhat Openshift Container Platform, published on 2 Nov 2023. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-5408 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-2023-5408/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-5408/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-5408
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-5408
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-5408

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-5408/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.