CVE-2021-25749
runAsNonRoot logic bypass for Windows containers
Windows workloads can run as ContainerAdministrator even when those workloads set the runAsNonRoot option to true.
Attack profile
How easy it is to exploit
- Attack vector
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges needed
- Low
- User interaction
- None
What an attacker can affect
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
Exploit likelihood
What each source reports
CVE List Score used
7.8
runAsNonRoot logic bypass for Windows containers
Windows workloads can run as ContainerAdministrator even when those workloads set the runAsNonRoot option to true.
- Record
CVE-2021-25749- CVSS 3.1
- 7.8 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-284
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2021-12632
7.8
Windows workloads can run as ContainerAdministrator even when those workloads set the runAsNonRoot option to true.
- Record
EUVD-2021-12632- CVSS 3.1
- 7.8 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Updated
- 2026-11-03
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-vv2r-w4hf-7mhr
7.8
Windows workloads can run as ContainerAdministrator even when those workloads set the...
Windows workloads can run as ContainerAdministrator even when those workloads set the runAsNonRoot option to true.
- Record
GHSA-vv2r-w4hf-7mhr- CVSS 3.1
- 7.8 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-284
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
NVD
7.8
Windows workloads can run as ContainerAdministrator even when those workloads set the runAsNonRoot option to true.
- Record
CVE-2021-25749- CVSS 3.1
- 7.8 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-284
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSV
7.8
Windows workloads can run as ContainerAdministrator even when those workloads set the runAsNonRoot option to true.
- Record
CVE-2021-25749- CVSS 3.1
- 7.8 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVopenSUSE-SU-2024:12780-1 No score
kubernetes1.23-apiserver-1.23.17-1.1 on GA media
These are all security issues fixed in the kubernetes1.23-apiserver-1.23.17-1.1 package on the GA media of openSUSE Tumbleweed.
- Record
openSUSE-SU-2024:12780-1- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVSUSE-SU-2023:2292-1 No score
Security update for kubernetes1.23
This update for kubernetes1.23 fixes the following issues:
-
add kubernetes1.18-client-common as conflicts with kubernetes-client-bash-completion
-
Split individual completions into separate packages
Update to version 1.23.17:
- releng: Update images, dependencies and version to Go 1.19.6
- Update golang.org/x/net to v0.7.0
- Pin golang.org/x/net to v0.4.0
- add scale test for probes
- use custom dialer for http probes
- use custom dialer for tcp probes
- add custom dialer optimized for probes
- egress_selector: prevent goroutines leak on connect() step.
- tls.Dial() validates hostname, no need to do that manually
- Fix issue that Audit Server could not correctly encode DeleteOption
- Do not include scheduler name in the preemption event message
- Do not leak cross namespace pod metadata in preemption events
- pkg/controller/job: re-honor exponential backoff
- releng: Update images, dependencies and version to Go 1.19.5
- Bump Konnectivity to v0.0.35
- Improve vendor verification works for each staging repo
- Update to go1.19
- Adjust for os/exec changes in 1.19
- Update golangci-lint to 1.46.2 and fix errors
- Match go1.17 defaults for SHA-1 and GC
- update golangci-lint to 1.45.0
- kubelet: make the image pull time more accurate in event
- change k8s.gcr.io/pause to registry.k8s.io/pause
- use etcd 3.5.6-0 after promotion
- changelog: CVE-2022-3294 and CVE-2022-3162 were fixed in v1.23.14
- Add CVE-2021-25749 to CHANGELOG-1.23.md
- Add CVE-2022-3294 to CHANGELOG-1.23.md
- kubeadm: use registry.k8s.io instead of k8s.gcr.io
- etcd: Updated to v3.5.5
- Bump konnectivity network proxy to v0.0.33. Includes a couple bug fixes for better handling of dial failures. Agent & Server include numerous other fixes.
- kubeadm: allow RSA and ECDSA format keys in preflight check
- Fixes kubelet log compression on Windows
- Reduce default gzip compression level from 4 to 1 in apiserver
- exec auth: support TLS config caching
- Marshal MicroTime to json and proto at the same precision
- Windows: ensure runAsNonRoot does case-insensitive comparison on user name
- update structured-merge-diff to 4.2.3
- Add rate limiting when calling STS assume role API
- Fixing issue in generatePodSandboxWindowsConfig for hostProcess containers by where pod sandbox won't have HostProcess bit set if pod does not have a security context but containers specify HostProcess.
- Record
SUSE-SU-2023:2292-1- Updated
- 2026-11-02
Affected products
Affected packages
| Package | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|
kubernetes1.23SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Containers 15 SP4 From an advisory covering 3 CVEs |
before 1.23.17-150300.7.6.1 | 1.23.17-150300.7.6.1 |
kubernetes1.23SUSE:Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP3-ESPOS From an advisory covering 3 CVEs |
before 1.23.17-150300.7.6.1 | 1.23.17-150300.7.6.1 |
kubernetes1.23SUSE:Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP3-LTSS From an advisory covering 3 CVEs |
before 1.23.17-150300.7.6.1 | 1.23.17-150300.7.6.1 |
kubernetes1.23SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP3-LTSS From an advisory covering 3 CVEs |
before 1.23.17-150300.7.6.1 | 1.23.17-150300.7.6.1 |
kubernetes1.23SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 15 SP3 From an advisory covering 3 CVEs |
before 1.23.17-150300.7.6.1 | 1.23.17-150300.7.6.1 |
kubernetes1.23SUSE:Enterprise Storage 7.1 From an advisory covering 3 CVEs |
before 1.23.17-150300.7.6.1 | 1.23.17-150300.7.6.1 |
History
| Recorded | Changed | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| affected, facts | ||
| aliases | EUVD | |
| first indexed | CVE List, GitHub Advisories, NVD, OSV |
Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.
In short
CVE-2021-25749 is a high vulnerability (CVSS 7.8) in Kubernetes, published May 24, 2023. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 0.21%, the 11th percentile. No source names a fixed version.
References
groups.google.com/g/kubernetes-security-announce/c/qqTZgulISzA
nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-25749
github.com/advisories/GHSA-vv2r-w4hf-7mhr
suse.com/support/update/announcement/2023/suse-su-20232292-1
suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2021-25749
suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2022-3162
suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2022-3294