CVE-2026-62371

KubeEdge is an open source system for extending native containerized application orchestration capabilities to hosts at Edge. From 1.12.0 until 1.21.2, 1.22.2, and 1.23.1, the v1alpha2 NodeUpgradeJob handler in edge/pkg/taskmanager/actions/nodeupgradejob.go concatenates authenticated user-controlled spec.version and spec.image values into the keadm upgrade edge shell command. A user with permission to create or update NodeUpgradeJob resources can supply shell metacharacters in either field, causing arbitrary commands to execute on targeted edge nodes with the privileges of the upgrade process and compromising node confidentiality, integrity, and availability. This issue is fixed in versions 1.21.2, 1.22.2, and 1.23.1.

KubeEdge is an open source system for extending native containerized application orchestration capabilities to hosts at Edge. From 1.12.0 until 1.21.2, 1.22.2, and 1.23.1, the v1alpha2 NodeUpgradeJob handler in edge/pkg/taskmanager/actions/nodeupgradejob.go concatenates authenticated user-controlled spec.version and spec.image values into the keadm upgrade edge shell command. A user with permission to create or update NodeUpgradeJob resources can supply shell metacharacters in either field, causing arbitrary commands to execute on targeted edge nodes with the privileges of the upgrade process and compromising node confidentiality, integrity, and availability. This issue is fixed in versions 1.21.2, 1.22.2, and 1.23.1.

Impact

The KubeEdge NodeUpgradeJob handler constructed the keadm upgrade edge command by concatenating the user-controlled spec.version and spec.image fields into a shell command.

An authenticated user with permission to create or update NodeUpgradeJob resources through the v1alpha2 API could include shell metacharacters in either field. When the upgrade job was processed, the injected command could be executed on the targeted edge node with the privileges available to the upgrade process.

Successful exploitation could result in arbitrary command execution and compromise the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the affected edge node.

Patches

The fix removes shell-based command construction and invokes keadm using a structured argument list through exec.Command.

The version and image values are passed as separate literal arguments and are no longer interpreted by a command shell.

The fixed versions:

• KubeEdge v1.23.1
• KubeEdge v1.22.2
• KubeEdge v1.21.2

Workarounds

Until a patched version is available:

• restrict permission to create or update NodeUpgradeJob resources to trusted administrators;
• do not allow untrusted users or tenants to control the spec.version or spec.image fields;
• avoid using NodeUpgradeJob-based edge upgrades in environments where these fields may be influenced by untrusted users.

Credits

KubeEdge thanks Sang-Hoon Choi (KoreaSecurity, Sejong University) for responsibly reporting this issue and for coordinating with the KubeEdge maintainers through the security disclosure process.

KubeEdge is an open source system for extending native containerized application orchestration capabilities to hosts at Edge. From 1.12.0 until 1.21.2, 1.22.2, and 1.23.1, the v1alpha2 NodeUpgradeJob handler in edge/pkg/taskmanager/actions/nodeupgradejob.go concatenates authenticated user-controlled spec.version and spec.image values into the keadm upgrade edge shell command. A user with permission to create or update NodeUpgradeJob resources can supply shell metacharacters in either field, causing arbitrary commands to execute on targeted edge nodes with the privileges of the upgrade process and compromising node confidentiality, integrity, and availability. This issue is fixed in versions 1.21.2, 1.22.2, and 1.23.1.

KubeEdge is an open source system for extending native containerized application orchestration capabilities to hosts at Edge. From 1.12.0 until 1.21.2, 1.22.2, and 1.23.1, the v1alpha2 NodeUpgradeJob handler in edge/pkg/taskmanager/actions/nodeupgradejob.go concatenates authenticated user-controlled spec.version and spec.image values into the keadm upgrade edge shell command. A user with permission to create or update NodeUpgradeJob resources can supply shell metacharacters in either field, causing arbitrary commands to execute on targeted edge nodes with the privileges of the upgrade process and compromising node confidentiality, integrity, and availability. This issue is fixed in versions 1.21.2, 1.22.2, and 1.23.1.

Impact

The KubeEdge NodeUpgradeJob handler constructed the keadm upgrade edge command by concatenating the user-controlled spec.version and spec.image fields into a shell command.

An authenticated user with permission to create or update NodeUpgradeJob resources through the v1alpha2 API could include shell metacharacters in either field. When the upgrade job was processed, the injected command could be executed on the targeted edge node with the privileges available to the upgrade process.

Successful exploitation could result in arbitrary command execution and compromise the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the affected edge node.

Patches

The fix removes shell-based command construction and invokes keadm using a structured argument list through exec.Command.

The version and image values are passed as separate literal arguments and are no longer interpreted by a command shell.

The fixed versions:

• KubeEdge v1.23.1
• KubeEdge v1.22.2
• KubeEdge v1.21.2

Workarounds

Until a patched version is available:

• restrict permission to create or update NodeUpgradeJob resources to trusted administrators;
• do not allow untrusted users or tenants to control the spec.version or spec.image fields;
• avoid using NodeUpgradeJob-based edge upgrades in environments where these fields may be influenced by untrusted users.

Credits

KubeEdge thanks Sang-Hoon Choi (KoreaSecurity, Sejong University) for responsibly reporting this issue and for coordinating with the KubeEdge maintainers through the security disclosure process.

KubeEdge: Command Injection in NodeUpgradeJob - RCE on edge nodes via v1alpha2 API in github.com/kubeedge/kubeedge