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Incorrect Authorization

CVE-2022-36103

High
8.8/10

Summary

Talos Linux is a Linux distribution built for Kubernetes deployments. Talos worker nodes use a join token to get accepted into the Talos cluster. Due to improper validation of the request while signing a worker node CSR (certificate signing request) in versions prior to 1.2.2 Talos control plane node might issue Talos API certificate which allows full access to Talos API on a control plane node. Accessing Talos API with full level access on a control plane node might reveal sensitive information which allows full level access to the cluster (Kubernetes and Talos PKI, etc.). Talos API join token is stored in the machine configuration on the worker node. When configured correctly, Kubernetes workloads don't have access to the machine configuration, but due to a misconfiguration workload might access the machine configuration and reveal the join token. This problem has been fixed in Talos 1.2.2. Enabling the Pod Security Standards mitigates the vulnerability by denying "hostPath" mounts and host networking by default in the baseline policy. Clusters that don't run untrusted workloads are not affected. Clusters with correct Pod Security configurations which don't allow "hostPath" mounts, and secure access to cloud metadata server (or machine configuration is not supplied via cloud metadata server) are not affected.

  • LOW
  • NETWORK
  • HIGH
  • UNCHANGED
  • NONE
  • LOW
  • HIGH
  • HIGH

CWE-863 - Incorrect Authorization

Authorization is a security mechanism performed by an application to grant or deny access to the requested resources by verifying the privileges of the user. When an application lacks effective authorization mechanisms, it enables unauthorized users to gain unintended privileges and illegitimate access to resources. Such a vulnerability may result in exposure of sensitive information, denial of service, arbitrary code execution, and complete system takeover.

References

Advisory Timeline

  • Published