GHSA-64jq-m7rq-768h
MEDIUMRancher's External RoleTemplates can lead to privilege escalation
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.
Blast Radius
github.com/rancher/rancher🐹github.com/rancher/rancherReal-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 identified whereby privilege escalation checks are not properly enforced for RoleTemplateobjects when external=true, which in specific scenarios can lead to privilege escalation.
The bug in the webhook rule resolver ignores rules from a ClusterRole for external RoleTemplates when its context is set to either project or is left empty. The fix introduces a new field to the RoleTemplate CRD named ExternalRules. The new field will be used to resolve rules directly from the RoleTemplate. Additionally, rules from the backing ClusterRole will be used if ExternalRules is not provided. The new field will always take precedence when it is set, and serve as the source of truth for rules used when creating Rancher resources on the local cluster.
Please note that this is a breaking change for external RoleTemplates, when context is set to project or empty and the backing ClusterRole does not exist, as this was not previously required.
Important: The fix is automatically applied when upgrading to the release lines 2.8and above. For users still on the 2.7 release line, after the upgrade to a patched version, users are required to opt-in to the fix by enabling the external-rules feature flag.
Please consult the associated MITRE ATT&CK - Technique - Exploitation for Privilege Escalation for further information about this category of attack.
Patches
Patched versions include releases 2.7.14 and 2.8.5.
Workarounds
The following script was developed for Rancher Manager administrators to identify RoleTemplates impacted by this vulnerability. The script requires jq installed and a kubeconfig with access to Rancher local cluster; it can also be executed in Rancher's kubectl shell.
#!/bin/bash
set -euo pipefail
# get all RoleTemplates with .context == "project" or .context == "" that don't have externalRules.
rts=$(kubectl get roletemplates -o json | jq -r '.items[] | select((.context == "project" or .context == "") and .external == true and .externalRules == null and .builtin == false) | .metadata.name')
found_invalid_rt=false
for rt in $rts; do
if ! kubectl get clusterrole "$rt" > /dev/null 2>&1; then
echo "$rt" # prints RoleTemplate names that don't have a backing ClusterRole
found_invalid_rt=true
fi
done
if ! $found_invalid_rt ; then
echo 'This cluster is not affected by CVE-2023-32197: no RoleTemplate objects found'
fi
It will return all objects affected by this vulnerability. The administrator can fix those objects by creating the backing ClusterRole that they refer to.
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
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐹Go | github.com/rancher/rancher | ≥ 2.7.0&&< 2.7.14 | 2.7.14 |
| 🐹Go | github.com/rancher/rancher | ≥ 2.8.0&&< 2.8.5 | 2.8.5 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for github.com/rancher/rancher. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.
Fix
Update github.com/rancher/rancher to 2.7.14 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-64jq-m7rq-768h 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 pinpoints whether GHSA-64jq-m7rq-768h is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.
Tailored to GHSA-64jq-m7rq-768h. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-64jq-m7rq-768h in your dependencies?
O3 detects GHSA-64jq-m7rq-768h across Go dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.