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CVE-2023-38495

Crossplane vulnerable to possible image tampering from missing image validation for Packages

8.4 HighFix available

CVE-2023-38495 is a high vulnerability (CVSS 8.4) in Cncf Crossplane, published July 27, 2023. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 0.84%, the 57th percentile. Fixed in github.com/crossplane/crossplane 1.11.5.

Crossplane is a framework for building cloud native control planes without needing to write code. In versions prior to 1.11.5, 1.12.3, and 1.13.0, Crossplane's image backend does not validate the byte contents of Crossplane packages. As such, Crossplane does not detect if an attacker has tampered with a Package. The problem has been fixed in 1.11.5, 1.12.3 and 1.13.0. As a workaround, only use images from trusted sources and keep Package editing/creating privileges to administrators only.

Attack profile

How easy it is to exploit

Attack vector
Network
Complexity
High
Privileges needed
None
User interaction
Required

What an attacker can affect

Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

Exploit likelihood

0.84%Up 0.8 points since Jul 28, 2023
90%50%10%1%

What each source reports

CVE List Score used 8.4

Crossplane vulnerable to possible image tampering from missing image validation for Packages

Crossplane is a framework for building cloud native control planes without needing to write code. In versions prior to 1.11.5, 1.12.3, and 1.13.0, Crossplane's image backend does not validate the byte contents of Crossplane packages. As such, Crossplane does not detect if an attacker has tampered with a Package. The problem has been fixed in 1.11.5, 1.12.3 and 1.13.0. As a workaround, only use images from trusted sources and keep Package editing/creating privileges to administrators only.

Record
CVE-2023-38495
CVSS 3.1
8.4 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
Weakness
CWE-20
Updated
2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2023-2113 8.4

Crossplane is a framework for building cloud native control planes without needing to write code. In versions prior to 1.11.5, 1.12.3, and 1.13.0, Crossplane's image backend does not validate the byte contents of Crossplane packages. As such, Crossplane does not detect if an attacker has tampered with a Package. The problem has been fixed in 1.11.5, 1.12.3 and 1.13.0. As a workaround, only use images from trusted sources and keep Package editing/creating privileges to administrators only.

Record
EUVD-2023-2113
CVSS 3.1
8.4 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
Updated
2026-11-03
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-pj4x-2xr5-w87m 8.3

Possible image tampering from missing image validation for Packages

Impact

Crossplanes image backend does not validate the byte contents of Crossplane packages. As such, Crossplane does not detect if an attacker has tampered with a Package.

Patches

The problem has been fixed in 1.11.5, 1.12.3 and 1.13.0, all the supported versions of Crossplane at the time of writing.

Workarounds

Only using images from trusted sources and keeping Package editing/creating privileges to administrators only, which should be both considered already best practices.

References

See ADA-XP-23-11 in the Security Audit's report.

Credits

This was reported as ADA-XP-23-11 by @AdamKorcz and @DavidKorczynski from Ada Logic and facilitated by OSTIF as part of the Security Audit sponsored by CNCF.

Record
GHSA-pj4x-2xr5-w87m
CVSS 3.1
8.3 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
Weakness
CWE-20
Updated
2026-11-02
NVD 8.3

Crossplane is a framework for building cloud native control planes without needing to write code. In versions prior to 1.11.5, 1.12.3, and 1.13.0, Crossplane's image backend does not validate the byte contents of Crossplane packages. As such, Crossplane does not detect if an attacker has tampered with a Package. The problem has been fixed in 1.11.5, 1.12.3 and 1.13.0. As a workaround, only use images from trusted sources and keep Package editing/creating privileges to administrators only.

Record
CVE-2023-38495
CVSS 3.1
8.3 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
CVSS 3.1
9.8 CriticalCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Weakness
CWE-20
Updated
2026-11-02
OSV 8.3

Crossplane vulnerable to possible image tampering from missing image validation for Packages

Crossplane is a framework for building cloud native control planes without needing to write code. In versions prior to 1.11.5, 1.12.3, and 1.13.0, Crossplane's image backend does not validate the byte contents of Crossplane packages. As such, Crossplane does not detect if an attacker has tampered with a Package. The problem has been fixed in 1.11.5, 1.12.3 and 1.13.0. As a workaround, only use images from trusted sources and keep Package editing/creating privileges to administrators only.

Record
CVE-2023-38495
CVSS 3.1
8.3 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
Weakness
CWE-20
Updated
2026-11-02
OSVGHSA-pj4x-2xr5-w87m 8.3

Possible image tampering from missing image validation for Packages

Impact

Crossplanes image backend does not validate the byte contents of Crossplane packages. As such, Crossplane does not detect if an attacker has tampered with a Package.

Patches

The problem has been fixed in 1.11.5, 1.12.3 and 1.13.0, all the supported versions of Crossplane at the time of writing.

Workarounds

Only using images from trusted sources and keeping Package editing/creating privileges to administrators only, which should be both considered already best practices.

References

See ADA-XP-23-11 in the Security Audit's report.

Credits

This was reported as ADA-XP-23-11 by @AdamKorcz and @DavidKorczynski from Ada Logic and facilitated by OSTIF as part of the Security Audit sponsored by CNCF.

Record
GHSA-pj4x-2xr5-w87m
CVSS 3.1
8.3 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
Weakness
CWE-20
Updated
2026-11-02
OSVBIT-crossplane-2023-38495 No score

Crossplane vulnerable to possible image tampering from missing image validation for Packages

Crossplane is a framework for building cloud native control planes without needing to write code. In versions prior to 1.11.5, 1.12.3, and 1.13.0, Crossplane's image backend does not validate the byte contents of Crossplane packages. As such, Crossplane does not detect if an attacker has tampered with a Package. The problem has been fixed in 1.11.5, 1.12.3 and 1.13.0. As a workaround, only use images from trusted sources and keep Package editing/creating privileges to administrators only.

Record
BIT-crossplane-2023-38495
Updated
2026-11-02
OSVGO-2023-1980 No score

Possible image tampering from missing image validation for Packages in github.com/crossplane/crossplane

Possible image tampering from missing image validation for Packages in github.com/crossplane/crossplane

Record
GO-2023-1980
Updated
2026-11-02

Affected products

Affected packages

Affected packages
PackageAffectedFixed
github.com/crossplane/crossplane
Go
 before 1.11.5
1.11.5
github.com/crossplane/crossplane
Go
 1.12.0 up to 1.12.3
1.12.3
crossplane
Bitnami
 before 1.11.5, 1.12.0 up to 1.12.3
1.11.51.12.3
github.com/crossplane/crossplane
Go
 before 1.11.5, 1.12.0 up to 1.12.3
1.11.51.12.3

History

History
WhenChangedSources
2026-11-03aliases, publishedEUVD
2026-11-02createdCVE List, GitHub Advisories, NVD, OSV

References

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