How severe is CVE-2024-42486?

CVE-2024-42486 has a CVSS score of 5.4/10, rated MEDIUM. Review your exposure and patch according to your risk tolerance.

Which packages are affected by CVE-2024-42486?

CVE-2024-42486 affects the following packages: github.com/cilium/cilium (Go), github.com/cilium/cilium (Go). Ecosystems affected: Go.

How do I fix CVE-2024-42486?

Update github.com/cilium/cilium to 1.16.1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2024-42486 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect CVE-2024-42486 in my Go dependencies?

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

How do I mitigate CVE-2024-42486 if there is no patch (or I can't update yet)?

Assume what was exposed is already known: rotate any credential, token or key that the affected component could return, restrict the endpoint to callers that genuinely need it, and strip sensitive fields from responses and error output at the boundary rather than relying on the client not to read them.

Is CVE-2024-42486 actively exploited in the wild?

No public exploit code has been indexed for CVE-2024-42486 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-2024-42486?

CVE-2024-42486 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 0.6%, placing it in the 47th 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-2024-42486?

CVE-2024-42486 is classified as Information Exposure (CWE-200). This weakness type describe the underlying flaw category, which helps determine the potential impact and the right class of mitigation.

When was CVE-2024-42486 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2024-42486 was published on August 16, 2024 and was last updated on October 28, 2026. Advisory data evolves as severity scores, affected ranges, and exploit intelligence are revised — always check the latest version of the advisory before acting.

🐹

🐹 Go

Not in CISA KEV

MEDIUM severity

CVE-2024-42486 — cilium

MEDIUMFix: cilium/cilium@ed3dfa0

CVE-2024-42486 is a medium-severity (CVSS 5.4) Information Exposure vulnerability in github.com/cilium/cilium. A fix is available for github.com/cilium/cilium — see the affected versions and patch details below.

Cilium vulnerable to information leakage via incorrect ReferenceGrant update logic in Gateway API

Also known asBIT-cilium-2024-42486BIT-cilium-operator-2024-42486BIT-hubble-relay-2024-42486GHSA-vwf8-q6fw-4wcmGO-2024-3074

Published

Aug 16, 2024

Updated

Oct 28, 2026

Affected

2 pkgs

Patched

2 / 2

Exploits

None indexed

Exploitation data as of Nov 4, 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-2024-42486.

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

0.6%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Lower Risk0.00%

Lower risk than most CVEs47th percentile — riskier than 47% 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

2 pkgs affected

🐹github.com/cilium/cilium🐹github.com/cilium/cilium

Real-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

Due to ReferenceGrant changes not being immediately propagated in Cilium's GatewayAPI controller, Gateway resources are able to access secrets in other namespaces after the associated ReferenceGrant has been revoked. This can lead to Gateways continuing to establish sessions using secrets that they should no longer have access to.

Patches

This issue was resolved in https://github.com/cilium/cilium/pull/34032.

This issue affects:

Cilium v1.15 between v1.15.0 and v1.15.7 inclusive
Cilium v1.16.0

This issue has been patched in:

Cilium v1.15.8
Cilium v1.16.1

Workarounds

Any modification of a related Gateway/HTTPRoute/GRPCRoute/TCPRoute CRD (for example, adding any label to any of these resources) will trigger a reconciliation of ReferenceGrants on an affected cluster.

Acknowledgements

The Cilium community has worked together with members of Cure53 and Isovalent to prepare these mitigations. Special thanks to @sayboras for resolving this issue.

For more information

If you have any questions or comments about this advisory, please reach out on Slack.

If you think you have found a vulnerability affecting Cilium, we strongly encourage you to report it to our security mailing list at [email protected]. This is a private mailing list for the Cilium security team, and your report will be treated as top priority.

Affected Packages

2 total 2 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
🐹Go	`github.com/cilium/cilium`	≥ 1.16.0&&< 1.16.1	1.16.1`go get github.com/cilium/cilium@v1.16.1`
🐹Go	`github.com/cilium/cilium`	≥ 1.15.0&&< 1.15.8	1.15.8`go get github.com/cilium/cilium@v1.15.8`

Affected Products

1 product · 2 configurations

Application

ciliumcilium

≥ 1.15.0 && ≤ 1.15.8

1 version

1.16.0

Detection & mitigation playbook

Open-source dependency

Detect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for github.com/cilium/cilium, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update github.com/cilium/cilium to 1.16.1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2024-42486 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Assume what was exposed is already known: rotate any credential, token or key that the affected component could return, restrict the endpoint to callers that genuinely need it, and strip sensitive fields from responses and error output at the boundary rather than relying on the client not to read them.

Frequently Asked Questions

### Impact Due to ReferenceGrant changes not being immediately propagated in Cilium's GatewayAPI controller, Gateway resources are able to access secrets in other namespaces after the associated ReferenceGrant has been revoked. This can lead to Gateways continuing to establish sessions using secrets that they should no longer have access to. ### Patches This issue was resolved in https://github.com/cilium/cilium/pull/34032. This issue affects: - Cilium v1.15 between v1.15.0 and v1.15.7 inclusive - Cilium v1.16.0 This issue has been patched in: - Cilium v1.15.8 - Cilium v1.16.1 ### Work