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CVE-2023-27594

Cilium vulnerable to potential network policy bypass when routing IPv6 traffic

4.2 MediumFix available

Cilium is a networking, observability, and security solution with an eBPF-based dataplane. Prior to versions 1.11.15, 1.12.8, and 1.13.1, under specific conditions, Cilium may misattribute the source IP address of traffic to a cluster, identifying external traffic as coming from the host on which Cilium is running. As a consequence, network policies for that cluster might be bypassed, depending on the specific network policies enabled.

This issue only manifests when Cilium is routing IPv6 traffic and NodePorts are used to route traffic to pods. IPv6 and endpoint routes are both disabled by default.

The problem has been fixed and is available on versions 1.11.15, 1.12.8, and 1.13.1. As a workaround, disable IPv6 routing.

Attack profile

How easy it is to exploit

Attack vector
Adjacent network
Complexity
High
Privileges needed
None
User interaction
None

What an attacker can affect

Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

Exploit likelihood

0.55%Up 0.5 points since Mar 18, 2023
90%50%10%1%

What each source reports

CVE List Score used 4.2

Cilium vulnerable to potential network policy bypass when routing IPv6 traffic

Cilium is a networking, observability, and security solution with an eBPF-based dataplane. Prior to versions 1.11.15, 1.12.8, and 1.13.1, under specific conditions, Cilium may misattribute the source IP address of traffic to a cluster, identifying external traffic as coming from the host on which Cilium is running. As a consequence, network policies for that cluster might be bypassed, depending on the specific network policies enabled.

This issue only manifests when Cilium is routing IPv6 traffic and NodePorts are used to route traffic to pods. IPv6 and endpoint routes are both disabled by default.

The problem has been fixed and is available on versions 1.11.15, 1.12.8, and 1.13.1. As a workaround, disable IPv6 routing.

Record
CVE-2023-27594
CVSS 3.1
4.2 MediumCVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N
Weakness
CWE-285
Updated
2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2023-0945 4.2

Cilium is a networking, observability, and security solution with an eBPF-based dataplane. Prior to versions 1.11.15, 1.12.8, and 1.13.1, under specific conditions, Cilium may misattribute the source IP address of traffic to a cluster, identifying external traffic as coming from the host on which Cilium is running. As a consequence, network policies for that cluster might be bypassed, depending on the specific network policies enabled.

This issue only manifests when Cilium is routing IPv6 traffic and NodePorts are used to route traffic to pods. IPv6 and endpoint routes are both disabled by default.

The problem has been fixed and is available on versions 1.11.15, 1.12.8, and 1.13.1. As a workaround, disable IPv6 routing.

Record
EUVD-2023-0945
CVSS 3.1
4.2 MediumCVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N
Updated
2026-11-02
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-8fg8-jh2h-f2hc 4.2

Potential network policy bypass when routing IPv6 traffic

Impact

Under specific conditions, Cilium may misattribute the source IP address of traffic to a cluster, identifying external traffic as coming from the host on which Cilium is running. As a consequence, network policies for that cluster might be bypassed, depending on the specific network policies enabled. Only IPv6 traffic is impacted by this vulnerability.

This issue only manifests when:

  • Cilium is routing IPv6 traffic, and
  • Kube-proxy is used for service handling, and
  • NodePorts are used to route traffic to pods.

IPv6 is disabled by default. Cilium's kube-proxy replacement feature is not affected by this vulnerability.

Patches

The problem has been fixed and is available on versions >=1.11.15, >=1.12.8, >=1.13.1

Workarounds

Disable IPv6 routing (IPv6 is disabled by default).

Acknowledgements

The Cilium community has worked together with members of Isovalent to prepare these mitigations. Special thanks to Yusuke Suzuki for both highlighting and fixing the issue.

For more information

If you have any questions or comments about this advisory, please reach out on Slack.

As usual, if you think you found a related vulnerability, we strongly encourage you to report security vulnerabilities to our private security mailing list: [email protected] - first, before disclosing them in any public forums. This is a private mailing list where only members of the Cilium internal security team are subscribed to, and is treated as top priority.

Record
GHSA-8fg8-jh2h-f2hc
CVSS 3.1
4.2 MediumCVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N
Weakness
CWE-285, CWE-863
Updated
2026-11-02
NVD 4.2

Cilium is a networking, observability, and security solution with an eBPF-based dataplane. Prior to versions 1.11.15, 1.12.8, and 1.13.1, under specific conditions, Cilium may misattribute the source IP address of traffic to a cluster, identifying external traffic as coming from the host on which Cilium is running. As a consequence, network policies for that cluster might be bypassed, depending on the specific network policies enabled.

This issue only manifests when Cilium is routing IPv6 traffic and NodePorts are used to route traffic to pods. IPv6 and endpoint routes are both disabled by default.

The problem has been fixed and is available on versions 1.11.15, 1.12.8, and 1.13.1. As a workaround, disable IPv6 routing.

Record
CVE-2023-27594
CVSS 3.1
4.2 MediumCVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N
CVSS 3.1
7.3 HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L
Weakness
CWE-285, CWE-863
Updated
2026-11-02
OSV 4.2

Cilium vulnerable to potential network policy bypass when routing IPv6 traffic

Cilium is a networking, observability, and security solution with an eBPF-based dataplane. Prior to versions 1.11.15, 1.12.8, and 1.13.1, under specific conditions, Cilium may misattribute the source IP address of traffic to a cluster, identifying external traffic as coming from the host on which Cilium is running. As a consequence, network policies for that cluster might be bypassed, depending on the specific network policies enabled.

This issue only manifests when Cilium is routing IPv6 traffic and NodePorts are used to route traffic to pods. IPv6 and endpoint routes are both disabled by default.

The problem has been fixed and is available on versions 1.11.15, 1.12.8, and 1.13.1. As a workaround, disable IPv6 routing.

Record
CVE-2023-27594
CVSS 3.1
4.2 MediumCVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N
Weakness
CWE-285
Updated
2026-11-02
OSVGHSA-8fg8-jh2h-f2hc 4.2

Potential network policy bypass when routing IPv6 traffic

Impact

Under specific conditions, Cilium may misattribute the source IP address of traffic to a cluster, identifying external traffic as coming from the host on which Cilium is running. As a consequence, network policies for that cluster might be bypassed, depending on the specific network policies enabled. Only IPv6 traffic is impacted by this vulnerability.

This issue only manifests when:

  • Cilium is routing IPv6 traffic, and
  • Kube-proxy is used for service handling, and
  • NodePorts are used to route traffic to pods.

IPv6 is disabled by default. Cilium's kube-proxy replacement feature is not affected by this vulnerability.

Patches

The problem has been fixed and is available on versions >=1.11.15, >=1.12.8, >=1.13.1

Workarounds

Disable IPv6 routing (IPv6 is disabled by default).

Acknowledgements

The Cilium community has worked together with members of Isovalent to prepare these mitigations. Special thanks to Yusuke Suzuki for both highlighting and fixing the issue.

For more information

If you have any questions or comments about this advisory, please reach out on Slack.

As usual, if you think you found a related vulnerability, we strongly encourage you to report security vulnerabilities to our private security mailing list: [email protected] - first, before disclosing them in any public forums. This is a private mailing list where only members of the Cilium internal security team are subscribed to, and is treated as top priority.

Record
GHSA-8fg8-jh2h-f2hc
CVSS 3.1
4.2 MediumCVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N
Weakness
CWE-285, CWE-863
Updated
2026-11-02
Show 8 moreShow less
OSVBIT-cilium-2023-27594 No score

Cilium vulnerable to potential network policy bypass when routing IPv6 traffic

Cilium is a networking, observability, and security solution with an eBPF-based dataplane. Prior to versions 1.11.15, 1.12.8, and 1.13.1, under specific conditions, Cilium may misattribute the source IP address of traffic to a cluster, identifying external traffic as coming from the host on which Cilium is running. As a consequence, network policies for that cluster might be bypassed, depending on the specific network policies enabled.

This issue only manifests when Cilium is routing IPv6 traffic and NodePorts are used to route traffic to pods. IPv6 and endpoint routes are both disabled by default.

The problem has been fixed and is available on versions 1.11.15, 1.12.8, and 1.13.1. As a workaround, disable IPv6 routing.

Record
BIT-cilium-2023-27594
Updated
2026-11-02
OSVBIT-cilium-operator-2023-27594 No score

Cilium vulnerable to potential network policy bypass when routing IPv6 traffic

Cilium is a networking, observability, and security solution with an eBPF-based dataplane. Prior to versions 1.11.15, 1.12.8, and 1.13.1, under specific conditions, Cilium may misattribute the source IP address of traffic to a cluster, identifying external traffic as coming from the host on which Cilium is running. As a consequence, network policies for that cluster might be bypassed, depending on the specific network policies enabled.

This issue only manifests when Cilium is routing IPv6 traffic and NodePorts are used to route traffic to pods. IPv6 and endpoint routes are both disabled by default.

The problem has been fixed and is available on versions 1.11.15, 1.12.8, and 1.13.1. As a workaround, disable IPv6 routing.

Record
BIT-cilium-operator-2023-27594
Updated
2026-11-02
OSVBIT-cilium-proxy-2023-27594 No score

Cilium is a networking, observability, and security solution with an eBPF-based dataplane. Prior to versions 1.11.15, 1.12.8, and 1.13.1, under specific conditions, Cilium may misattribute the source IP address of traffic to a cluster, identifying external traffic as coming from the host on which Cilium is running. As a consequence, network policies for that cluster might be bypassed, depending on the specific network policies enabled.This issue only manifests when Cilium is routing IPv6 traffic and NodePorts are used to route traffic to pods. IPv6 and endpoint routes are both disabled by default.The problem has been fixed and is available on versions 1.11.15, 1.12.8, and 1.13.1. As a workaround, disable IPv6 routing.

Record
BIT-cilium-proxy-2023-27594
Updated
2026-11-02
OSVBIT-hubble-2023-27594 No score

Cilium is a networking, observability, and security solution with an eBPF-based dataplane. Prior to versions 1.11.15, 1.12.8, and 1.13.1, under specific conditions, Cilium may misattribute the source IP address of traffic to a cluster, identifying external traffic as coming from the host on which Cilium is running. As a consequence, network policies for that cluster might be bypassed, depending on the specific network policies enabled.This issue only manifests when Cilium is routing IPv6 traffic and NodePorts are used to route traffic to pods. IPv6 and endpoint routes are both disabled by default.The problem has been fixed and is available on versions 1.11.15, 1.12.8, and 1.13.1. As a workaround, disable IPv6 routing.

Record
BIT-hubble-2023-27594
Updated
2026-11-02
OSVBIT-hubble-relay-2023-27594 No score

Cilium vulnerable to potential network policy bypass when routing IPv6 traffic

Cilium is a networking, observability, and security solution with an eBPF-based dataplane. Prior to versions 1.11.15, 1.12.8, and 1.13.1, under specific conditions, Cilium may misattribute the source IP address of traffic to a cluster, identifying external traffic as coming from the host on which Cilium is running. As a consequence, network policies for that cluster might be bypassed, depending on the specific network policies enabled.

This issue only manifests when Cilium is routing IPv6 traffic and NodePorts are used to route traffic to pods. IPv6 and endpoint routes are both disabled by default.

The problem has been fixed and is available on versions 1.11.15, 1.12.8, and 1.13.1. As a workaround, disable IPv6 routing.

Record
BIT-hubble-relay-2023-27594
Updated
2026-11-02
OSVBIT-hubble-ui-2023-27594 No score

Cilium is a networking, observability, and security solution with an eBPF-based dataplane. Prior to versions 1.11.15, 1.12.8, and 1.13.1, under specific conditions, Cilium may misattribute the source IP address of traffic to a cluster, identifying external traffic as coming from the host on which Cilium is running. As a consequence, network policies for that cluster might be bypassed, depending on the specific network policies enabled.This issue only manifests when Cilium is routing IPv6 traffic and NodePorts are used to route traffic to pods. IPv6 and endpoint routes are both disabled by default.The problem has been fixed and is available on versions 1.11.15, 1.12.8, and 1.13.1. As a workaround, disable IPv6 routing.

Record
BIT-hubble-ui-2023-27594
Updated
2026-11-02
OSVBIT-hubble-ui-backend-2023-27594 No score

Cilium is a networking, observability, and security solution with an eBPF-based dataplane. Prior to versions 1.11.15, 1.12.8, and 1.13.1, under specific conditions, Cilium may misattribute the source IP address of traffic to a cluster, identifying external traffic as coming from the host on which Cilium is running. As a consequence, network policies for that cluster might be bypassed, depending on the specific network policies enabled.This issue only manifests when Cilium is routing IPv6 traffic and NodePorts are used to route traffic to pods. IPv6 and endpoint routes are both disabled by default.The problem has been fixed and is available on versions 1.11.15, 1.12.8, and 1.13.1. As a workaround, disable IPv6 routing.

Record
BIT-hubble-ui-backend-2023-27594
Updated
2026-11-02
OSVGO-2023-1643 No score

Potential network policy bypass when routing IPv6 traffic in github.com/cilium/cilium

Potential network policy bypass when routing IPv6 traffic in github.com/cilium/cilium

Record
GO-2023-1643
Updated
2026-11-02

Affected products

Affected packages

Affected packages
PackageAffectedFixed
github.com/cilium/cilium
Go
before 1.11.15
1.11.15
github.com/cilium/cilium
Go
1.12.0 up to 1.12.8
1.12.8
github.com/cilium/cilium
Go
1.13.0 up to 1.13.1
1.13.1
cilium
Bitnami
before 1.11.15, 1.12.0 up to 1.12.8, 1.13.0 up to 1.13.1
1.11.151.12.81.13.1
cilium-operator
Bitnami
before 1.11.15, 1.12.0 up to 1.12.8, 1.13.0 up to 1.13.1
1.11.151.12.81.13.1
cilium-proxy
Bitnami
before 1.11.15, 1.12.0 up to 1.12.8, 1.13.0 up to 1.13.1
1.11.151.12.81.13.1
hubble
Bitnami
before 1.11.15, 1.12.0 up to 1.12.8, 1.13.0 up to 1.13.1
1.11.151.12.81.13.1
hubble-relay
Bitnami
before 1.11.15, 1.12.0 up to 1.12.8, 1.13.0 up to 1.13.1
1.11.151.12.81.13.1
hubble-ui
Bitnami
before 1.11.15, 1.12.0 up to 1.12.8, 1.13.0 up to 1.13.1
1.11.151.12.81.13.1
hubble-ui-backend
Bitnami
before 1.11.15, 1.12.0 up to 1.12.8, 1.13.0 up to 1.13.1
1.11.151.12.81.13.1
github.com/cilium/cilium
Go
before 1.11.15, 1.12.0 up to 1.12.8, 1.13.0 up to 1.13.1
1.11.151.12.81.13.1

History

History
RecordedChangedSources
first indexedCVE List, EUVD, GitHub Advisories, NVD, OSV

Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.

In short

CVE-2023-27594 is a medium vulnerability (CVSS 4.2) in Cilium, published March 17, 2023. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 0.55%, the 46th percentile. Fixed in github.com/cilium/cilium 1.11.15.

References

MoveEnter Open