GHSA-p756-rfxh-x63h is a low-severity (CVSS 3) CWE-732 vulnerability in Azure/setup-kubectl. A fix is available for Azure/setup-kubectl — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Azure/setup-kubectl: Escalation of privilege vulnerability for v3 and lower
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- 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 GHSA-p756-rfxh-x63h.
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-p756-rfxh-x63h 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 377,166 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
Azure/setup-kubectlReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects GitHub Actions packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
Impact
This vulnerability only impacts versions v2 and lower. An insecure temporary creation of a file allows other actors on the Actions runner to replace the Kubectl binary created by this action because it is world writable. This Kubectl tool installer runs fs.chmodSync(kubectlPath, 777) to set permissions on the Kubectl binary, however, this allows any local user to replace the Kubectl binary. This allows privilege escalation to the user that can also run kubectl, most likely root. This attack is only possible if an attacker somehow breached the GitHub actions runner or if a user is utilizing an Action that maliciously executes this attack.
No impacted customers have been reported.
Patches
This has been fixed and released in all versions v3 and later. 755 permissions are used instead.
Workarounds
If users absolutely cannot upgrade to v3 or higher than they should be extra diligent of the other GitHub actions they are using in a workflow and ensure that their GitHub actions runner is secure.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦GitHub Actions | Azure/setup-kubectl | all versions | 3 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for Azure/setup-kubectl, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update Azure/setup-kubectl to 3 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-p756-rfxh-x63h 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-p756-rfxh-x63h can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-p756-rfxh-x63h. 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-p756-rfxh-x63h in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-p756-rfxh-x63h across GitHub Actions dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.