CVE-2023-37900 — crossplane
LOWCVE-2023-37900 is a low-severity (CVSS 3.4) Uncontrolled Resource Consumption vulnerability in github.com/crossplane/crossplane. 1 public exploit reference exists, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for github.com/crossplane/crossplane — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Crossplane vulnerable to denial of service from large image
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-2023-37900.
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-2023-37900 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 377,636 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/crossplane/crossplane🐹github.com/crossplane/crossplaneReal-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
Impact
An high-privileged user could create a Package referencing an arbitrarily large image containing that Crossplane would then parse, possibly resulting in exhausting all the available memory and therefore in the container being OOMKilled.
The impact is low due to the high privileges required to be able to create the Package and the eventually consistency nature of controller.
Patches
The problem has been fixed in 1.11.5, 1.12.3 and 1.13.0, all the supported versions of Crossplane at the time of writing.
Workarounds
Only using images from trusted sources and keeping Package editing/creating privileges to administrators only, which should be both considered already best practices.
References
See ADA-XP-23-16 in the Security Audit's report.
Credits
This was reported as ADA-XP-23-16 by @AdamKorcz and @DavidKorczynski from Ada Logic and facilitated by OSTIF as part of the Security Audit sponsored by CNCF.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐹Go | github.com/crossplane/crossplane | all versions | 1.11.5go get github.com/crossplane/crossplane@v1.11.5 |
| 🐹Go | github.com/crossplane/crossplane | ≥ 1.12.0&&< 1.12.3 | 1.12.3go get github.com/crossplane/crossplane@v1.12.3 |
Research use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for github.com/crossplane/crossplane, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update github.com/crossplane/crossplane to 1.11.5 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2023-37900 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-2023-37900 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2023-37900. 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-2023-37900 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2023-37900 across Go dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.