CVE-2023-2728
MEDIUMCVE-2023-2728 is a medium-severity (CVSS 6.5) Improper Input Validation vulnerability in k8s.io/kubernetes. O3 Security confirms whether CVE-2023-2728 is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
Bypassing enforce mountable secrets policy imposed by the ServiceAccount admission plugin
Blast Radius
k8s.io/kubernetes🐹k8s.io/kubernetes🐹k8s.io/kubernetes🐹k8s.io/kubernetesReal-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
Users may be able to launch containers that bypass the mountable secrets policy enforced by the ServiceAccount admission plugin when using ephemeral containers. The policy ensures pods running with a service account may only reference secrets specified in the service account’s secrets field. Kubernetes clusters are only affected if the ServiceAccount admission plugin and the kubernetes.io/enforce-mountable-secrets annotation are used together with ephemeral containers.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐹Go | k8s.io/kubernetes | ≥ 1.27.0&&< 1.27.3 | 1.27.3 |
| 🐹Go | k8s.io/kubernetes | ≥ 1.26.0&&< 1.26.6 | 1.26.6 |
| 🐹Go | k8s.io/kubernetes | ≥ 1.25.0&&< 1.25.11 | 1.25.11 |
| 🐹Go | k8s.io/kubernetes | all versions | 1.24.15 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for k8s.io/kubernetes. 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 k8s.io/kubernetes to 1.27.3 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2023-2728 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-2023-2728 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-2023-2728. 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-2023-2728 in your dependencies?
O3 detects CVE-2023-2728 across Go dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.