CVE-2023-1260 is a high-severity (CVSS 8) CWE-288 vulnerability in github.com/openshift/apiserver-library-go. A fix is available for github.com/openshift/apiserver-library-go — see the affected versions and patch details below.
kube-apiserver authentication bypass vulnerability
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.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2023-1260 plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE doesn't sit, though severity or exploitability alone can still warrant action.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 377,636 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
Real-World Exposure
github.com/openshift/apiserver-library-goReal-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
An authentication bypass vulnerability was discovered in kube-apiserver. This issue could allow a remote, authenticated attacker who has been given permissions "update, patch" the "pods/ephemeralcontainers" subresource beyond what the default is. They would then need to create a new pod or patch one that they already have access to. This might allow evasion of SCC admission restrictions, thereby gaining control of a privileged pod.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐹Go | github.com/openshift/apiserver-library-go | all versions | 0.0.0-20230621go get github.com/openshift/apiserver-library-go@v0.0.0-20230621 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for github.com/openshift/apiserver-library-go, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update github.com/openshift/apiserver-library-go to 0.0.0-20230621 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2023-1260 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 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like CVE-2023-1260 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2023-1260. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Fixing This On Your OS
If you run this on a Linux distribution, patch through your package manager against the distro's own security advisory below — it tracks the exact backported fix for your release, which can ship on a different timeline (and sometimes a different severity) than the upstream project.
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.10 | openshift-0:4.10.0-202308291228.p0.g26fdcdf.assembly.stream.el7 | RHSA-2023:4898 |
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.11 | openshift-0:4.11.0-202307200925.p0.ga9da4a8.assembly.stream.el8 | RHSA-2023:4312 |
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.12 | openshift-0:4.12.0-202307040929.p0.g1485cc9.assembly.stream.el8 | RHSA-2023:3976 |
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.13 | openshift-0:4.13.0-202307132344.p0.gf245ced.assembly.stream.el8 | RHSA-2023:4093 |
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.14 | microshift-0:4.14.0-202310261440.p0.g1586504.assembly.4.14.0.el9 | RHSA-2023:5008 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2023-1260 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2023-1260 across Go dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.