How severe is CVE-2024-52280?

CVE-2024-52280 has a CVSS score of 7.7/10, rated HIGH. Immediate patching is strongly recommended.

Which packages are affected by CVE-2024-52280?

CVE-2024-52280 affects the following packages: github.com/rancher/steve (Go). Ecosystems affected: Go.

How do I fix CVE-2024-52280?

Update github.com/rancher/steve to 0.0.0-20241029132712-2175e090fe4b or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2024-52280 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect CVE-2024-52280 in my Go dependencies?

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

How do I mitigate CVE-2024-52280 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-2024-52280 actively exploited in the wild?

No public exploit code has been indexed for CVE-2024-52280 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-2024-52280?

CVE-2024-52280 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 0.5%, placing it in the 43th 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-2024-52280?

CVE-2024-52280 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-2024-52280 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2024-52280 was published on April 11, 2025 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

HIGH severity

CVE-2024-52280 — steve

HIGHFix: rancher/steve@2175e09

CVE-2024-52280 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.7) Information Exposure vulnerability in github.com/rancher/steve. A fix is available for github.com/rancher/steve — see the affected versions and patch details below.

Users can issue watch commands for arbitrary resources

Also known asGHSA-j5hq-5jcr-xwx7GO-2024-3281

Published

Apr 11, 2025

Updated

Oct 28, 2026

Affected

1 pkg

Patched

1 / 1

Exploits

None indexed

Exploitation data as of Nov 8, 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-2024-52280.

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

0.5%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Lower Risk+0.01%

Lower risk than most CVEs43th percentile — riskier than 43% 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

1 pkg affected

🐹github.com/rancher/steve

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

A vulnerability has been discovered in Steve API (Kubernetes API Translator) in which users can watch resources they are not allowed to access, when they have at least some generic permissions on the type. For example, a user who can get a single secret in a single namespace can get all secrets in every namespace.

During a watch request for a single ID, the following occurs:

In the case of a watch request for a single resource, Steve API will return a partition with the requested resource in it. In other cases, it will check the user's access when constructing partitions.
When a watch request for a single resource is issued, instead of using a client which impersonates the user making the request, Steve API will use the admin client, which can read all resources.

This allows any requester to see the contents of any object such as secret keys, signing certificates, API tokens.

Please consult the associated MITRE ATT&CK - Technique - Valid Accounts and MITRE ATT&CK - Technique - Container and Resource Discovery for further information about this category of attack.

Patches

To address this issue, the fix introduces a change in the behavior of the Steve API.

When issuing a watch request with an ID specified, the requester's permissions are now correctly honoured. This will deny events for objects the requester cannot actually access. Previously these events were returned unconditionally, allowing any requester to see the contents of any object.

Patched versions include the following commits:

Branch	Commit
main	https://github.com/rancher/steve/commit/2175e090fe4b1e603a54e1cdc5148a2b1c11b4d9
release/v2.9	https://github.com/rancher/steve/commit/6e30359c652333a49e229b2791c9b403d5ef81a9
release/v2.8	https://github.com/rancher/steve/commit/c744f0b17b88ff5e2fcabc60841174d878ddc88e

Workarounds

There are no workarounds for this issue. Users are recommended to upgrade, as soon as possible, to a version of Steve API/Rancher Manager which contains the fixes.

References

If you have any questions or comments about this advisory:

Reach out to the SUSE Rancher Security team for security-related inquiries.
Open an issue in the Rancher repository.
Verify with our support matrix and product support lifecycle.

Affected Packages

1 total 1 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
🐹Go	`github.com/rancher/steve`	all versions	0.0.0-20241029132712-2175e090fe4b`go get github.com/rancher/steve@v0.0.0-20241029132712-2175e090fe4b`

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/rancher/steve, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update github.com/rancher/steve to 0.0.0-20241029132712-2175e090fe4b or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2024-52280 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 A vulnerability has been discovered in Steve API (Kubernetes API Translator) in which users can watch resources they are not allowed to access, when they have at least some generic permissions on the type. For example, a user who can get a single secret in a single namespace can get all secrets in every namespace. During a `watch` request for a single ID, the following occurs: - In the case of a watch request for a single resource, Steve API will return a partition with the requested resource in it. In other cases, it will check the user's access when constructing partitions. - Whe