CVE-2024-42486
Cilium vulnerable to information leakage via incorrect ReferenceGrant update logic in Gateway API
Cilium is a networking, observability, and security solution with an eBPF-based dataplane. In versions on the 1.15.x branch prior to 1.15.8 and the 1.16.x branch prior to 1.16.1, ReferenceGrant changes are not correctly propagated in Cilium's GatewayAPI controller, which could lead to Gateway resources being able to access secrets for longer than intended, or to Routes having the ability to forward traffic to backends in other namespaces for longer than intended. This issue has been patched in Cilium v1.15.8 and v1.16.1. As a workaround, any modification of a related Gateway/HTTPRoute/GRPCRoute/TCPRoute CRD (for example, adding any label to any of these resources) will trigger a reconciliation of ReferenceGrants on an affected cluster.
Attack profile
How easy it is to exploit
- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- High
- Privileges needed
- None
- User interaction
- None
What an attacker can affect
- Confidentiality
- Low
- Integrity
- Low
- Availability
- None
Exploit likelihood
What each source reports
CVE List Score used
5.4
Cilium vulnerable to information leakage via incorrect ReferenceGrant update logic in Gateway API
Cilium is a networking, observability, and security solution with an eBPF-based dataplane. In versions on the 1.15.x branch prior to 1.15.8 and the 1.16.x branch prior to 1.16.1, ReferenceGrant changes are not correctly propagated in Cilium's GatewayAPI controller, which could lead to Gateway resources being able to access secrets for longer than intended, or to Routes having the ability to forward traffic to backends in other namespaces for longer than intended. This issue has been patched in Cilium v1.15.8 and v1.16.1. As a workaround, any modification of a related Gateway/HTTPRoute/GRPCRoute/TCPRoute CRD (for example, adding any label to any of these resources) will trigger a reconciliation of ReferenceGrants on an affected cluster.
- Record
CVE-2024-42486- CVSS 3.1
- 5.4 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-200
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2024-2669
5.4
Cilium is a networking, observability, and security solution with an eBPF-based dataplane. In versions on the 1.15.x branch prior to 1.15.8 and the 1.16.x branch prior to 1.16.1, ReferenceGrant changes are not correctly propagated in Cilium's GatewayAPI controller, which could lead to Gateway resources being able to access secrets for longer than intended, or to Routes having the ability to forward traffic to backends in other namespaces for longer than intended. This issue has been patched in Cilium v1.15.8 and v1.16.1. As a workaround, any modification of a related Gateway/HTTPRoute/GRPCRoute/TCPRoute CRD (for example, adding any label to any of these resources) will trigger a reconciliation of ReferenceGrants on an affected cluster.
- Record
EUVD-2024-2669- CVSS 3.1
- 5.4 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N - Updated
- 2026-11-03
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-vwf8-q6fw-4wcm
5.4
Cilium leaks information via incorrect ReferenceGrant update logic in Gateway API
Impact
Due to ReferenceGrant changes not being immediately propagated in Cilium's GatewayAPI controller, Gateway resources are able to access secrets in other namespaces after the associated ReferenceGrant has been revoked. This can lead to Gateways continuing to establish sessions using secrets that they should no longer have access to.
Patches
This issue was resolved in https://github.com/cilium/cilium/pull/34032.
This issue affects:
- Cilium v1.15 between v1.15.0 and v1.15.7 inclusive
- Cilium v1.16.0
This issue has been patched in:
- Cilium v1.15.8
- Cilium v1.16.1
Workarounds
Any modification of a related Gateway/HTTPRoute/GRPCRoute/TCPRoute CRD (for example, adding any label to any of these resources) will trigger a reconciliation of ReferenceGrants on an affected cluster.
Acknowledgements
The Cilium community has worked together with members of Cure53 and Isovalent to prepare these mitigations. Special thanks to @sayboras for resolving this issue.
For more information
If you have any questions or comments about this advisory, please reach out on Slack.
If you think you have found a vulnerability affecting Cilium, we strongly encourage you to report it to our security mailing list at [email protected]. This is a private mailing list for the Cilium security team, and your report will be treated as top priority.
- Record
GHSA-vwf8-q6fw-4wcm- CVSS 3.1
- 5.4 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-200
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
NVD
5.4
Cilium is a networking, observability, and security solution with an eBPF-based dataplane. In versions on the 1.15.x branch prior to 1.15.8 and the 1.16.x branch prior to 1.16.1, ReferenceGrant changes are not correctly propagated in Cilium's GatewayAPI controller, which could lead to Gateway resources being able to access secrets for longer than intended, or to Routes having the ability to forward traffic to backends in other namespaces for longer than intended. This issue has been patched in Cilium v1.15.8 and v1.16.1. As a workaround, any modification of a related Gateway/HTTPRoute/GRPCRoute/TCPRoute CRD (for example, adding any label to any of these resources) will trigger a reconciliation of ReferenceGrants on an affected cluster.
- Record
CVE-2024-42486- CVSS 3.1
- 5.4 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N - CVSS 3.1
- 7.2 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-200
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSV
5.4
Cilium vulnerable to information leakage via incorrect ReferenceGrant update logic in Gateway API
Cilium is a networking, observability, and security solution with an eBPF-based dataplane. In versions on the 1.15.x branch prior to 1.15.8 and the 1.16.x branch prior to 1.16.1, ReferenceGrant changes are not correctly propagated in Cilium's GatewayAPI controller, which could lead to Gateway resources being able to access secrets for longer than intended, or to Routes having the ability to forward traffic to backends in other namespaces for longer than intended. This issue has been patched in Cilium v1.15.8 and v1.16.1. As a workaround, any modification of a related Gateway/HTTPRoute/GRPCRoute/TCPRoute CRD (for example, adding any label to any of these resources) will trigger a reconciliation of ReferenceGrants on an affected cluster.
- Record
CVE-2024-42486- CVSS 3.1
- 5.4 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-200
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVGHSA-vwf8-q6fw-4wcm
5.4
Cilium leaks information via incorrect ReferenceGrant update logic in Gateway API
Impact
Due to ReferenceGrant changes not being immediately propagated in Cilium's GatewayAPI controller, Gateway resources are able to access secrets in other namespaces after the associated ReferenceGrant has been revoked. This can lead to Gateways continuing to establish sessions using secrets that they should no longer have access to.
Patches
This issue was resolved in https://github.com/cilium/cilium/pull/34032.
This issue affects:
- Cilium v1.15 between v1.15.0 and v1.15.7 inclusive
- Cilium v1.16.0
This issue has been patched in:
- Cilium v1.15.8
- Cilium v1.16.1
Workarounds
Any modification of a related Gateway/HTTPRoute/GRPCRoute/TCPRoute CRD (for example, adding any label to any of these resources) will trigger a reconciliation of ReferenceGrants on an affected cluster.
Acknowledgements
The Cilium community has worked together with members of Cure53 and Isovalent to prepare these mitigations. Special thanks to @sayboras for resolving this issue.
For more information
If you have any questions or comments about this advisory, please reach out on Slack.
If you think you have found a vulnerability affecting Cilium, we strongly encourage you to report it to our security mailing list at [email protected]. This is a private mailing list for the Cilium security team, and your report will be treated as top priority.
- Record
GHSA-vwf8-q6fw-4wcm- CVSS 3.1
- 5.4 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-200
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
Show 4 moreShow less
OSVBIT-cilium-2024-42486 No score
Cilium vulnerable to information leakage via incorrect ReferenceGrant update logic in Gateway API
Cilium is a networking, observability, and security solution with an eBPF-based dataplane. In versions on the 1.15.x branch prior to 1.15.8 and the 1.16.x branch prior to 1.16.1, ReferenceGrant changes are not correctly propagated in Cilium's GatewayAPI controller, which could lead to Gateway resources being able to access secrets for longer than intended, or to Routes having the ability to forward traffic to backends in other namespaces for longer than intended. This issue has been patched in Cilium v1.15.8 and v1.16.1. As a workaround, any modification of a related Gateway/HTTPRoute/GRPCRoute/TCPRoute CRD (for example, adding any label to any of these resources) will trigger a reconciliation of ReferenceGrants on an affected cluster.
- Record
BIT-cilium-2024-42486- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVBIT-cilium-operator-2024-42486 No score
Cilium vulnerable to information leakage via incorrect ReferenceGrant update logic in Gateway API
Cilium is a networking, observability, and security solution with an eBPF-based dataplane. In versions on the 1.15.x branch prior to 1.15.8 and the 1.16.x branch prior to 1.16.1, ReferenceGrant changes are not correctly propagated in Cilium's GatewayAPI controller, which could lead to Gateway resources being able to access secrets for longer than intended, or to Routes having the ability to forward traffic to backends in other namespaces for longer than intended. This issue has been patched in Cilium v1.15.8 and v1.16.1. As a workaround, any modification of a related Gateway/HTTPRoute/GRPCRoute/TCPRoute CRD (for example, adding any label to any of these resources) will trigger a reconciliation of ReferenceGrants on an affected cluster.
- Record
BIT-cilium-operator-2024-42486- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVBIT-hubble-relay-2024-42486 No score
Cilium vulnerable to information leakage via incorrect ReferenceGrant update logic in Gateway API
Cilium is a networking, observability, and security solution with an eBPF-based dataplane. In versions on the 1.15.x branch prior to 1.15.8 and the 1.16.x branch prior to 1.16.1, ReferenceGrant changes are not correctly propagated in Cilium's GatewayAPI controller, which could lead to Gateway resources being able to access secrets for longer than intended, or to Routes having the ability to forward traffic to backends in other namespaces for longer than intended. This issue has been patched in Cilium v1.15.8 and v1.16.1. As a workaround, any modification of a related Gateway/HTTPRoute/GRPCRoute/TCPRoute CRD (for example, adding any label to any of these resources) will trigger a reconciliation of ReferenceGrants on an affected cluster.
- Record
BIT-hubble-relay-2024-42486- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVGO-2024-3074 No score
Cilium leaks information via incorrect ReferenceGrant update logic in Gateway API in github.com/cilium/cilium
Cilium leaks information via incorrect ReferenceGrant update logic in Gateway API in github.com/cilium/cilium
- Record
GO-2024-3074- Updated
- 2026-11-02
Affected products
Affected packages
| Package | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|
github.com/cilium/ciliumGo |
1.16.0 to 1.16.0 | 1.16.1 |
github.com/cilium/ciliumGo |
1.15.0 up to 1.15.8 | 1.15.8 |
ciliumBitnami |
1.15.0 up to 1.16.1 | 1.16.1 |
cilium-operatorBitnami |
1.15.4 up to 1.16.1 | 1.16.1 |
hubble-relayBitnami |
1.15.0 up to 1.16.1 | 1.16.1 |
github.com/cilium/ciliumGo |
1.16.0 up to 1.16.1 | 1.16.1 |
github.com/cilium/ciliumGo |
1.15.0 up to 1.15.8, 1.16.0 up to 1.16.1 | 1.15.81.16.1 |
History
| Recorded | Changed | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| aliases, published | EUVD | |
| first indexed | CVE List, GitHub Advisories, NVD, OSV |
Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.
In short
CVE-2024-42486 is a medium vulnerability (CVSS 5.4) in Cilium, published August 16, 2024. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 0.57%, the 47th percentile. Fixed in github.com/cilium/cilium 1.16.1.
References
github.com/cilium/cilium/security/advisories/GHSA-vwf8-q6fw-4wcm
github.com/cilium/cilium/pull/34032
github.com/cilium/cilium/commit/ed3dfa0aab8b80f7e841a6d49d2a990ac2dca053
nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-42486
github.com/cilium/cilium/commit/414a96b53d51ef6e6645c44426e26bc8e7c7c059
github.com/cilium/cilium/commit/92c110e58a7be6586819dd51fb0f6ee1ec4be8f8
github.com/advisories/GHSA-vwf8-q6fw-4wcm
github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2024/42xxx/CVE-2024-42486.json
github.com/cilium/cilium