CVE-2025-8077 — neuvector
CRITICALCVE-2025-8077 is a critical-severity (CVSS 9.8) CWE-1393 vulnerability in github.com/neuvector/neuvector. A fix is available for github.com/neuvector/neuvector — see the affected versions and patch details below.
NeuVector admin account has insecure default password
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- CISA assesses this as automatable — exploitation doesn’t require manual, per-target effort, which raises the odds of mass scanning and opportunistic attacks.
- 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-2025-8077.
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/neuvector/neuvectorReal-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 exists in NeuVector versions up to and including 5.4.5, where a fixed string is used as the default password for the built-in admin account. If this password is not changed immediately after deployment, any workload with network access within the cluster could use the default credentials to obtain an authentication token. This token can then be used to perform any operation via NeuVector APIs.
In earlier versions, NeuVector supports setting the default (bootstrap) password for the admin account using a Kubernetes Secret named neuvector-bootstrap-secret. This Secret must contain a key named bootstrapPassword. However, if NeuVector fails to retrieve this value, it falls back to the fixed default password.
Patches
This issue is resolved in NeuVector version 5.4.6 and later. For rolling upgrades, it's strongly recommended to change the default admin password to a secure one.
Starting from version 5.4.6, NeuVector introduces additional Kubernetes RBAC permissions to ensure the bootstrap password can be securely managed via Secrets:
kubectl create role neuvector-binding-secret-controller \
--verb=create,patch,update --resource=secrets -n {neuvector}
kubectl create rolebinding neuvector-binding-secret-controller \
--role=neuvector-binding-secret-controller \
--serviceaccount=neuvector:controller \
--serviceaccount=neuvector:default -n {neuvector}
- These RBAC roles are automatically applied when deploying via Helm.
- If deploying or upgrading manually, you must create these roles before starting NeuVector.
NOTE: If these roles are not present, the NeuVector controller (from version 5.4.6 onward) does not start.
Behavior in Patched Versions
- Upgrades: NeuVector does not reset any existing account passwords. It's strongly recommended to change the default
adminpassword to a secure one. - New deployments:
- If
bootstrapPasswordis not set in the `neuvector-bootstrap-secret, NeuVector generates a secure password and stores it in the same Secret.
- If
On first login, the default admin must retrieve the password using:
kubectl get secret -n {neuvector} neuvector-bootstrap-secret \
-o go-template='{{ .data.bootstrapPassword | base64decode }}{{ "\n" }}'
The password must be changed during the first login via the NeuVector UI.
NOTE: If the default admin password is set using a Kubernetes ConfigMap or a persistent backup (not a fixed string), this value takes precedence over the Secret-based mechanism.
Workarounds
For existing vulnerable versions, log in to the NeuVector UI immediately after deployment and update the default admin password.
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 NeuVector repository.
- Verify with our support matrix and product support lifecycle.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐹Go | github.com/neuvector/neuvector | all versions | 0.0.0-20250825191744-da1a462074c3go get github.com/neuvector/neuvector@v0.0.0-20250825191744-da1a462074c3 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for github.com/neuvector/neuvector, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update github.com/neuvector/neuvector to 0.0.0-20250825191744-da1a462074c3 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2025-8077 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2025-8077 in your dependencies?
Find it across Go, including transitive dependencies.