GHSA-9qq2-xhmc-h9qr is a medium-severity (CVSS 4.2) CWE-668 vulnerability in github.com/rancher/rancher. A fix is available for github.com/rancher/rancher — see the affected versions and patch details below.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
GHSA-9qq2-xhmc-h9qr by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). Outside the shaded patch-first corner.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 385,987 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Counts from FIRST.org, log-scaled.
Real-World Exposure
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
An issue was discovered in Rancher 2 through 2.1.5. Any project member with access to the default namespace can mount the netes-default service account in a pod, and then use that pod to execute administrative privileged commands against the k8s cluster. This could be mitigated by isolating the default namespace in a separate project, where only cluster admins can be given permissions to access. As of 2018-12-20, this bug affected ALL clusters created or imported by Rancher.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐹Go | github.com/rancher/rancher | ≥ 2.0.0&&< 2.1.6 | 2.1.6go get github.com/rancher/rancher@v2.1.6 |
Affected Products
ranchersuseDetection & 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, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update github.com/rancher/rancher to 2.1.6 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-9qq2-xhmc-h9qr 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 GHSA-9qq2-xhmc-h9qr in your dependencies?
Find it across Go, including transitive dependencies.