GHSA-579h-mv94-g4gp is a critical-severity (CVSS 9.8) CWE-388 vulnerability in github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes. 13 public exploit references exist, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Privilege Escalation in Kubernetes
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
GHSA-579h-mv94-g4gp plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE sits: patch-first territory.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 377,166 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the 50–90% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
Real-World Exposure
github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes🐹github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes🐹github.com/kubernetes/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
In all Kubernetes versions prior to v1.10.11, v1.11.5, and v1.12.3, incorrect handling of error responses to proxied upgrade requests in the kube-apiserver allowed specially crafted requests to establish a connection through the Kubernetes API server to backend servers, then send arbitrary requests over the same connection directly to the backend, authenticated with the Kubernetes API server's TLS credentials used to establish the backend connection.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐹Go | github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes | all versions | 1.10.11go get github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes@v1.10.11 |
| 🐹Go | github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes | ≥ 1.11.0&&< 1.11.5 | 1.11.5go get github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes@v1.11.5 |
| 🐹Go | github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes | ≥ 1.12.0&&< 1.12.3 | 1.12.3go get github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes@v1.12.3 |
Research use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.
Kubernetes - (Authenticated) Arbitrary Requests
by evict · Dec 10, 2018
Kubernetes - (Unauthenticated) Arbitrary Requests
by evict · Dec 10, 2018
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes to 1.10.11 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-579h-mv94-g4gp 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 GHSA-579h-mv94-g4gp can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-579h-mv94-g4gp. 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.
In versions 3.6 and higher of OpenShift Container Platform, this vulnerability allows cluster-admin level access to any API hosted by an aggregated API server. This includes the ‘service catalog’ API which is installed by default in 3.7 and later. Cluster-admin level access to the service catalog allows creation of…
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 3.10 | atomic-enterprise-service-catalog-1:3.10.72-1.git.1450.7d3f435.el7 | RHSA-2018:3549 |
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 3.11 | atomic-openshift-0:3.11.43-1.git.0.647ac05.el7 | RHSA-2018:3537 |
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 3.2 | atomic-openshift-0:3.2.1.34-2.git.20.6367d5d.el7 | RHSA-2018:3742 |
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 3.3 | atomic-openshift-0:3.3.1.46.45-1.git.0.2ce596e.el7 | RHSA-2018:3754 |
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 3.4 | atomic-openshift-0:3.4.1.44.57-1.git.0.a631031.el7 | RHSA-2018:3752 |
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 3.5 | atomic-openshift-0:3.5.5.31.80-1.git.0.c4a0780.el7 | RHSA-2018:3624 |
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 3.6 | atomic-openshift-0:3.6.173.0.140-1.git.0.9686d52.el7 | RHSA-2018:3598 |
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 3.7 | atomic-openshift-0:3.7.72-1.git.0.925b9cd.el7 | RHSA-2018:2906 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-579h-mv94-g4gp in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-579h-mv94-g4gp across Go dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.