CVE-2023-32191 — rke
CRITICALCVE-2023-32191 is a critical-severity (CVSS 9.9) CWE-922 vulnerability in github.com/rancher/rke. A fix is available for github.com/rancher/rke — see the affected versions and patch details below.
rke's credentials are stored in the RKE1 Cluster state ConfigMap
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- A successful exploit gives an attacker total control of the affected component, not partial access.
- 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-2023-32191.
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-2023-32191 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 377,333 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/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 | 1.4.19go get github.com/rancher/rke@v1.4.19 |
| 🐹Go | github.com/rancher/rke | ≥ 1.5.9&&< 1.5.10 | 1.5.10go get github.com/rancher/rke@v1.5.10 |
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, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
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 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like CVE-2023-32191 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
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 Security finds CVE-2023-32191 across Go dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.