CVE-2023-22648 — rancher
HIGHCVE-2023-22648 is a high-severity (CVSS 8) CWE-271 vulnerability in github.com/rancher/rancher. A fix is available for github.com/rancher/rancher — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Rancher's Azure AD permission changes are not reflected on active sessions
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-2023-22648 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 378,156 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/rancher/rancher🐹github.com/rancher/rancherReal-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
A bug has been identified in which permission changes in Azure AD are not reflected to users while they are logged in the Rancher UI. This would cause the users to retain their previous permissions in Rancher, even if they change groups on Azure AD, for example, to a lower privileged group, or are removed from a group, thus retaining their access to Rancher instead of losing it.
Impact
This issue only affects Rancher instances with Azure AD integration enabled, regardless of the automatically refreshing settings which are enabled by default. The users that obtained a token (or kubeconfig) to access Rancher through the following sessions are affected by this issue:
- Users using the Rancher UI.
- Users using
kubectlbased on akubeconfigdownloaded through the Rancher UI. - Tokens created via the Rancher UI Create API Key feature.
Note that the permission caching is persisted even when the Rancher Manager pod is restarted. The only way for a user to get the new permissions is to logout and login again.
Patches
Patched versions include releases 2.6.13, 2.7.4 and later versions.
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.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐹Go | github.com/rancher/rancher | ≥ 2.6.7&&< 2.6.13 | 2.6.13go get github.com/rancher/rancher@v2.6.13 |
| 🐹Go | github.com/rancher/rancher | ≥ 2.7.0&&< 2.7.4 | 2.7.4go get github.com/rancher/rancher@v2.7.4 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for github.com/rancher/rancher, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update github.com/rancher/rancher to 2.6.13 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2023-22648 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-2023-22648 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2023-22648. 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-2023-22648 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2023-22648 across Go dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.