CVE-2022-36103
HIGHTalos worker join token can be used to get elevated access level to the Talos API
EPSS Exploitation Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.
Blast Radius
github.com/talos-systems/talosReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Go packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
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) 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.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐹Go | github.com/talos-systems/talos | all versions | 1.2.2 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for github.com/talos-systems/talos. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.
Fix
Update github.com/talos-systems/talos to 1.2.2 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2022-36103 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 pinpoints whether CVE-2022-36103 is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.
Tailored to CVE-2022-36103. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2022-36103 in your dependencies?
O3 detects CVE-2022-36103 across Go dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.