How severe is CVE-2023-23939?

CVE-2023-23939 has a CVSS score of 3.9/10, rated LOW. Review your exposure and patch according to your risk tolerance.

Which packages are affected by CVE-2023-23939?

CVE-2023-23939 affects the following packages: Azure/setup-kubectl (GitHub Actions). Ecosystems affected: GitHub Actions.

How do I fix CVE-2023-23939?

Update Azure/setup-kubectl to 3 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2023-23939 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect CVE-2023-23939 in my GitHub Actions dependencies?

Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for Azure/setup-kubectl, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.

How do I mitigate CVE-2023-23939 if there is no patch (or I can't update yet)?

Close the privilege gap rather than the entry point: audit which accounts, roles and service identities can reach the affected operation, drop the component to the least privilege it actually needs, and review file and directory permissions created by earlier installs — a default left in place is what makes this reachable.

Is CVE-2023-23939 actively exploited in the wild?

No public exploit code has been indexed for CVE-2023-23939 yet. This does not mean the vulnerability cannot be exploited — absence of public exploits does not imply safety. Apply the recommended fix and use O3 Security to monitor your exposure.

What is the EPSS score for CVE-2023-23939?

CVE-2023-23939 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 0.4%, placing it in the 29th percentile of all CVEs. EPSS is maintained by FIRST.org and estimates the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. This score indicates relatively lower exploitation probability, though the CVSS severity should still guide your patching priority.

What type of vulnerability is CVE-2023-23939?

CVE-2023-23939 is classified as CWE-732 (CWE-732). This weakness type describe the underlying flaw category, which helps determine the potential impact and the right class of mitigation.

When was CVE-2023-23939 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2023-23939 was published on March 6, 2023 and was last updated on October 21, 2026. Advisory data evolves as severity scores, affected ranges, and exploit intelligence are revised — always check the latest version of the advisory before acting.

📦

📦 GitHub Actions

Not in CISA KEV

LOW severity

CVE-2023-23939 — setup-kubectl

LOWFix: Azure/setup-kubectl@d449d75

CVE-2023-23939 is a low-severity (CVSS 3.9) CWE-732 vulnerability in Azure/setup-kubectl. A fix is available for Azure/setup-kubectl — see the affected versions and patch details below.

Azure/setup-kubectl: Escalation of privilege vulnerability for v3 and lower

Also known asGHSA-p756-rfxh-x63h

Published

Mar 6, 2023

Updated

Oct 21, 2026

Affected

1 pkg

Patched

1 / 1

Exploits

None indexed

Exploitation data as of Oct 23, 2026 · OSV.dev, NVD, FIRST.org (EPSS)

Exploitation Status

No confirmed exploitation observed yet

CISA’s own triage has not observed active exploitation or public proof-of-concept code for this CVE as of its last assessment.

Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2023-23939.

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

0.4%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Lower Risk0.00%

Lower risk than most CVEs29th percentile — riskier than 29% of all scored CVEsHighest risk

Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.

How urgent is this, really

Where this sits among everything scored

Real-World Exposure

1 pkg affected

📦Azure/setup-kubectl

Real-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects GitHub Actions packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.

Description

Impact

This vulnerability only impacts versions v2 and lower. An insecure temporary creation of a file allows other actors on the Actions runner to replace the Kubectl binary created by this action because it is world writable. This Kubectl tool installer runs fs.chmodSync(kubectlPath, 777) to set permissions on the Kubectl binary, however, this allows any local user to replace the Kubectl binary. This allows privilege escalation to the user that can also run kubectl, most likely root. This attack is only possible if an attacker somehow breached the GitHub actions runner or if a user is utilizing an Action that maliciously executes this attack.

No impacted customers have been reported.

Patches

This has been fixed and released in all versions v3 and later. 755 permissions are used instead.

Workarounds

If users absolutely cannot upgrade to v3 or higher than they should be extra diligent of the other GitHub actions they are using in a workflow and ensure that their GitHub actions runner is secure.

Affected Packages

1 total 1 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
📦GitHub Actions	`Azure/setup-kubectl`	all versions	3

Affected Products

1 product · 1 configurations

Application

azure setup kubectlmicrosoft

< 3.0

range

Detection & mitigation playbook

Open-source dependency

Detect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for Azure/setup-kubectl, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update Azure/setup-kubectl to 3 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2023-23939 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Close the privilege gap rather than the entry point: audit which accounts, roles and service identities can reach the affected operation, drop the component to the least privilege it actually needs, and review file and directory permissions created by earlier installs — a default left in place is what makes this reachable.

Frequently Asked Questions

### Impact This vulnerability only impacts versions `v2` and lower. An insecure temporary creation of a file allows other actors on the Actions runner to replace the Kubectl binary created by this action because it is world writable. This Kubectl tool installer runs `fs.chmodSync(kubectlPath, 777)` to set permissions on the Kubectl binary, however, this allows any local user to replace the Kubectl binary. This allows privilege escalation to the user that can also run kubectl, most likely root. This attack is only possible if an attacker somehow breached the GitHub actions runner or if a user