CVE-2025-5187 — kubernetes
MEDIUMCVE-2025-5187 is a medium-severity (CVSS 6.7) CWE-863 vulnerability in k8s.io/kubernetes. A fix is available for k8s.io/kubernetes — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Nodes can delete themselves by adding an OwnerReference
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-2025-5187.
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-2025-5187 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
k8s.io/kubernetes🐹k8s.io/kubernetes🐹k8s.io/kubernetesReal-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 vulnerability exists in the NodeRestriction admission controller in Kubernetes clusters where node users can delete their corresponding node object by patching themselves with an OwnerReference to a cluster-scoped resource. If the OwnerReference resource does not exist or is subsequently deleted, the given node object will be deleted via garbage collection.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐹Go | k8s.io/kubernetes | all versions | 1.31.12go get k8s.io/kubernetes@v1.31.12 |
| 🐹Go | k8s.io/kubernetes | ≥ 1.32.0-alpha.0&&< 1.32.8 | 1.32.8go get k8s.io/kubernetes@v1.32.8 |
| 🐹Go | k8s.io/kubernetes | ≥ 1.33.0-alpha.0&&< 1.33.4 | 1.33.4go get k8s.io/kubernetes@v1.33.4 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for k8s.io/kubernetes, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update k8s.io/kubernetes to 1.31.12 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2025-5187 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-2025-5187 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2025-5187. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
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.
This vulnerability is rated as having a Moderate severity. For a successful attack to take place, the attacker needs to have a high privileged account with enough privileges to create the nodes.
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.18 | openshift4/ose-cluster-kube-apiserver-rhel9-operator:ose-cluster-kube-apiserver-operator-container-v4.18.0-202509100344.p2.gb6ad4b0.assembly.stream.el9 | RHBA-2025:15714 |
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.19 | openshift4/ose-cluster-kube-apiserver-rhel9-operator:ose-cluster-kube-apiserver-operator-container-v4.19.0-202509091807.p2.g80c1fc3.assembly.stream.el9 | RHBA-2025:15694 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2025-5187 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2025-5187 across Go dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.