CVE-2023-32191
CRITICALCVE-2023-32191 is a critical-severity (CVSS 9.9) CWE-922 vulnerability in github.com/rancher/rke. O3 Security confirms whether CVE-2023-32191 is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
rke's credentials are stored in the RKE1 Cluster state ConfigMap
Blast Radius
github.com/rancher/rke🐹github.com/rancher/rkeReal-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
When RKE provisions a cluster, it stores the cluster state in a configmap called full-cluster-state inside the kube-system namespace of the cluster itself. The information available in there allows non-admin users to escalate to admin.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐹Go | github.com/rancher/rke | ≥ 1.4.18&&< 1.4.19 | 1.4.19 |
| 🐹Go | github.com/rancher/rke | ≥ 1.5.9&&< 1.5.10 | 1.5.10 |
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/rke. 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/rancher/rke to 1.4.19 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2023-32191 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-2023-32191 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-2023-32191. 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-2023-32191 in your dependencies?
O3 detects CVE-2023-32191 across Go dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.