CVE-2024-45496 — openshift-controller-mana…
CRITICALFix: openshift/openshift-controller-manager@3af3628CVE-2024-45496 is a critical-severity (CVSS 9.9) Improper Privilege Management vulnerability in github.com/openshift/openshift-controller-manager. A fix is available for github.com/openshift/openshift-controller-manager — see the affected versions and patch details below.
OpenShift Controller Manager Improper Privilege Management
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-2024-45496.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
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
github.com/openshift/openshift-controller-managerReal-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
A flaw was found in OpenShift. This issue occurs due to the misuse of elevated privileges in the OpenShift Container Platform's build process. During the build initialization step, the git-clone container is run with a privileged security context, allowing unrestricted access to the node. An attacker with developer-level access can provide a crafted .gitconfig file containing commands executed during the cloning process, leading to arbitrary command execution on the worker node. An attacker running code in a privileged container could escalate their permissions on the node running the container.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐹Go | github.com/openshift/openshift-controller-manager | all versions | 0.0.0-alpha.0.0.20240911go get github.com/openshift/openshift-controller-manager@v0.0.0-alpha.0.0.20240911 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for github.com/openshift/openshift-controller-manager, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update github.com/openshift/openshift-controller-manager to 0.0.0-alpha.0.0.20240911 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2024-45496 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Close the privilege gap rather than the entry point: audit which accounts, roles and service identities can reach the affected operation, drop the component to the least privilege it actually needs, and review file and directory permissions created by earlier installs — a default left in place is what makes this reachable.
Fixing This On Your OS
If you run this on a Linux distribution, patch through your package manager against the distro's own security advisory below — it tracks the exact backported fix for your release, which can ship on a different timeline (and sometimes a different severity) than the upstream project.
In all versions of OpenShift, the "Custom" build strategy gives developers permission to run arbitrary commands in a privileged container. This is disabled by default, and documentation explicitly warns that this should only be enabled for highly trusted users (eg: cluster admins). We therefore do not consider this…
Cluster admins can follow the instructions in "Securing Builds by Strategy" to block use of the "Docker" and “Source” build strategies on a cluster, or restrict the use to a set of highly trusted users, until the cluster is able to be upgraded. https://docs.openshift.com/container-platform/4.16/cicd/builds/securing-builds-by-strategy.htmlSource: Red Hat security advisory for CVE-2024-45496 (CC BY 4.0)
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.12 | openshift4/ose-openshift-controller-manager-rhel8:v4.12.0-202409131137.p1.g0b1971a.assembly.stream.el8 | RHSA-2024:6705 |
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.13 | openshift4/ose-openshift-controller-manager-rhel8:v4.13.0-202409130707.p1.gb75d499.assembly.stream.el8 | RHSA-2024:6691 |
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.14 | openshift4/ose-openshift-controller-manager-rhel8:v4.14.0-202409130708.p1.g9020ea1.assembly.stream.el8 | RHSA-2024:6689 |
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.15 | openshift4/ose-openshift-controller-manager-rhel9:v4.15.0-202409131835.p1.gbe9d673.assembly.stream.el9 | RHSA-2024:6685 |
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.16 | openshift4/ose-openshift-controller-manager-rhel9:v4.16.0-202409130937.p1.g5dcfc99.assembly.stream.el9 | RHSA-2024:6687 |
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.17 | openshift4/ose-openshift-controller-manager-rhel9:v4.17.0-202409182235.p0.g7682a61.assembly.stream.el9 | RHSA-2024:3718 |
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.18 | openshift4/aws-kms-encryption-provider-rhel9:v4.18.0-202501230001.p0.g088dcaf.assembly.stream.el9 | RHSA-2024:6122 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2024-45496 in your dependencies?
Find it across Go, including transitive dependencies.