Security Bulletin: IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service is affected by two containerd security vulnerabilities (CVE-2023-25153 and CVE-2023-25173)

Summary

IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service is affected by two security vulnerabilities found in containerd where (1) a maliciously crafted image with a large file could cause a denial of service when importing an OCI image (CVE-2023-25153) and (2) supplementary groups are not set up properly inside a container which could bypass primary group restrictions in some cases (CVE-2023-25173).

Vulnerability Details

CVEID: CVE-2023-25153
Description: containerd is vulnerable to a denial of service, caused by a memory exhaustion flaw when importing an OCI image. By using a specially-crafted image with a large file, a local attacker could exploit this vulnerability to cause a denial of service condition.
CVSS Base Score: 6.2
CVSS Temporal Score: <https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/247777&gt; for more information
CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H)

CVEID: CVE-2023-25173
Description: containerd could allow a local authenticated attacker to bypass security restrictions, caused by improper setup for supplementary groups inside a container. By sending a specially-crafted request using supplementary group access, an attacker could exploit this vulnerability to bypass primary group restrictions.
CVSS Base Score: 5.3
CVSS Temporal Score: <https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/247778&gt; for more information
CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L)

Affected Products and Versions

IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service 1.26-1.26.1_1521
IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service 1.25-1.25.6_1531
IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service 1.24-1.24.10_1553
IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service 1.23-1.23.16_1562
IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service 1.5-1.22

Remediation/Fixes

Updates for IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service cluster worker nodes at version 1.23 or later are available that fix this vulnerability. Customers must update worker nodes created before the fix was available to address the vulnerability. See updating worker nodes for details on updating worker nodes. To verify your cluster worker nodes have been updated, use the following IBM Cloud CLI command to confirm the currently running versions:

ibmcloud ks workers --cluster <cluster name or ID>

If the versions are at one of the following patch levels or later, the cluster worker nodes have the fix:

1.26.1_1522
1.25.6_1532
1.24.10_1554
1.23.16_1563

Customers running IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service clusters at version 1.22 must upgrade to version 1.23. Please review the documentation before starting an upgrade since additional actions may be required.

Customers running IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service clusters at version 1.21 or earlier must create a new cluster and deploy their apps to the new cluster.

IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service versions 1.22 and earlier are no longer supported. See the IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service version information and update actions documentation for more information about Kubernetes versions and version support policies.

Monitor IBM Cloud Status for Future Security Bulletins

Monitor the security notifications on the IBM Cloud Status page to be advised of future security bulletins.

References

Complete CVSS v3 Guide
On-line Calculator v3

Off

CVE-2023-25153: OCI image importer memory exhaustion in github.com/containerd/containerd

CVE-2023-25173: Supplementary groups are not set up properly in github.com/containerd/containerd

Related Information

IBM Secure Engineering Web Portal
IBM Product Security Incident Response Blog

*The CVSS Environment Score is customer environment specific and will ultimately impact the Overall CVSS Score. Customers can evaluate the impact of this vulnerability in their environments by accessing the links in the Reference section of this Security Bulletin.

Disclaimer

Review the IBM security bulletin disclaimer and definitions regarding your responsibilities for assessing potential impact of security vulnerabilities to your environment.

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Product Synonym

IKS;