CVE-2024-42486
MEDIUMCVE-2024-42486 is a medium-severity (CVSS 5.4) Information Exposure vulnerability in github.com/cilium/cilium. O3 Security confirms whether CVE-2024-42486 is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
Cilium vulnerable to information leakage via incorrect ReferenceGrant update logic in Gateway API
Blast Radius
github.com/cilium/cilium🐹github.com/cilium/ciliumReal-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
Cilium is a networking, observability, and security solution with an eBPF-based dataplane. In versions on the 1.15.x branch prior to 1.15.8 and the 1.16.x branch prior to 1.16.1, ReferenceGrant changes are not correctly propagated in Cilium's GatewayAPI controller, which could lead to Gateway resources being able to access secrets for longer than intended, or to Routes having the ability to forward traffic to backends in other namespaces for longer than intended. This issue has been patched in Cilium v1.15.8 and v1.16.1. As a workaround, 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.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐹Go | github.com/cilium/cilium | ≥ 1.16.0&&< 1.16.1 | 1.16.1 |
| 🐹Go | github.com/cilium/cilium | ≥ 1.15.0&&< 1.15.8 | 1.15.8 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for github.com/cilium/cilium. 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/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
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-2024-42486 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-2024-42486. 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-2024-42486 in your dependencies?
O3 detects CVE-2024-42486 across Go dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.