GHSA-x7xj-jvwp-97rv RKE2 allows privilege escalation in Windows nodes due to Insecure Access Control Lists

Impact

A vulnerability has been identified whereby RKE2 deployments in Windows nodes have weak Access Control Lists (ACL), allowing BUILTIN\Users or NT AUTHORITY\Authenticated Users to view or edit sensitive files which could lead to privilege escalation.

The affected files include binaries, scripts, configuration and log files:

C:\etc\rancher\node\password
C:\var\lib\rancher\rke2\agent\logs\kubelet.log
C:\var\lib\rancher\rke2\data\v1.**.**-rke2r*-windows-amd64-*\bin\*
C:\var\lib\rancher\rke2\bin\*

This vulnerability is exclusive to RKE2 in Windows environments. Linux environments are not affected by it.

Please consult the associated MITRE ATT&CK - Technique - Exploitation for Privilege Escalation for further information about this category of attack.

Patches

Patched versions include RKE2 1.31.0, 1.30.2, 1.29.6, 1.28.11 and 1.27.15.

Workarounds

Users are advised to do a fresh install of their RKE2 Windows nodes using a patched RKE2 version. When that is not possible, users can enforce stricter ACLs for all sensitive files affected by this Security Advisory running this PowerShell script as an Administrator on each node.

References

• CVE-2023-32197
• Rancher Manager’s GHSA-7h8m-pvw3-5gh4

For more information

If you have any questions or comments about this advisory:

• Reach out to the SUSE Rancher Security team for security related inquiries.
• Open an issue in the Rancher repository.
• Verify with our support matrix and product support lifecycle.