GHSA-xr9q-h9c7-xw8q is a high-severity (CVSS 8.2) CWE-121 vulnerability in github.com/rancher/rancher. A fix is available for github.com/rancher/rancher — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Rancher allows an unauthenticated stack overflow in /v3-public/authproviders API
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.
- 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-xr9q-h9c7-xw8q.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
GHSA-xr9q-h9c7-xw8q by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). Outside the shaded patch-first corner.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 379,842 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/rancher🐹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
An unauthenticated stack overflow crash, leading to a denial of service (DoS), was identified in Rancher’s /v3-public/authproviders public API endpoint. A malicious user could submit data to the API which would cause the Rancher server to crash, but no malicious or incorrect data would actually be written in the API. The downstream clusters, i.e., the clusters managed by Rancher, are not affected by this issue.
This vulnerability affects those using external authentication providers as well as Rancher’s local authentication.
Patches
The patch includes the removal of unnecessary HTTP methods of the specific API.
Patched versions include releases v2.8.13, v2.9.7 and v2.10.3.
Workarounds
There are no workarounds for this issue. Users are recommended to upgrade, as soon as possible, to a version of Rancher Manager that contains the fix.
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 | ≥ 2.8.0&&< 2.8.13 | 2.8.13go get github.com/rancher/rancher@v2.8.13 |
| 🐹Go | github.com/rancher/rancher | ≥ 2.9.0&&< 2.9.7 | 2.9.7go get github.com/rancher/rancher@v2.9.7 |
| 🐹Go | github.com/rancher/rancher | ≥ 2.10.0&&< 2.10.3 | 2.10.3go get github.com/rancher/rancher@v2.10.3 |
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, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update github.com/rancher/rancher to 2.8.13 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-xr9q-h9c7-xw8q is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Constrain what reaches the vulnerable code: limit the size and shape of untrusted input, isolate the affected component in a sandboxed or least-privileged process, and enable the platform's memory-safety mitigations (ASLR, stack protector, hardened allocator) so an out-of-bounds access is more likely to fail closed than to be exploitable.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-xr9q-h9c7-xw8q in your dependencies?
Find it across Go, including transitive dependencies.