CVE-2023-29002
Debug mode leaks confidential data in Cilium
Cilium is a networking, observability, and security solution with an eBPF-based dataplane. When run in debug mode, Cilium will log the contents of the cilium-secrets namespace. This could include data such as TLS private keys for Ingress and GatewayAPI resources. An attacker with access to debug output from the Cilium containers could use the resulting output to intercept and modify traffic to and from the affected cluster. Output of the sensitive information would occur at Cilium agent restart, when secrets in the namespace are modified, and on creation of Ingress or GatewayAPI resources. This vulnerability is fixed in Cilium releases 1.11.16, 1.12.9, and 1.13.2. Users unable to upgrade should disable debug mode.
Attack profile
How easy it is to exploit
- Attack vector
- Local
- Complexity
- High
- Privileges needed
- High
- User interaction
- None
What an attacker can affect
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- None
Exploit likelihood
What each source reports
CVE List Score used
7.2
Debug mode leaks confidential data in Cilium
Cilium is a networking, observability, and security solution with an eBPF-based dataplane. When run in debug mode, Cilium will log the contents of the cilium-secrets namespace. This could include data such as TLS private keys for Ingress and GatewayAPI resources. An attacker with access to debug output from the Cilium containers could use the resulting output to intercept and modify traffic to and from the affected cluster. Output of the sensitive information would occur at Cilium agent restart, when secrets in the namespace are modified, and on creation of Ingress or GatewayAPI resources. This vulnerability is fixed in Cilium releases 1.11.16, 1.12.9, and 1.13.2. Users unable to upgrade should disable debug mode.
- Record
CVE-2023-29002- CVSS 3.1
- 7.2 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-532
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2023-1365
7.2
Cilium is a networking, observability, and security solution with an eBPF-based dataplane. When run in debug mode, Cilium will log the contents of the cilium-secrets namespace. This could include data such as TLS private keys for Ingress and GatewayAPI resources. An attacker with access to debug output from the Cilium containers could use the resulting output to intercept and modify traffic to and from the affected cluster. Output of the sensitive information would occur at Cilium agent restart, when secrets in the namespace are modified, and on creation of Ingress or GatewayAPI resources. This vulnerability is fixed in Cilium releases 1.11.16, 1.12.9, and 1.13.2. Users unable to upgrade should disable debug mode.
- Record
EUVD-2023-1365- CVSS 3.1
- 7.2 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N - Updated
- 2026-11-03
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-pg5p-wwp8-97g8
7.2
Debug mode leaks confidential data in Cilium
Impact
When run in debug mode, Cilium may log sensitive information.
In particular, Cilium running in debug mode will log the values of headers if they match HTTP network policy rules. This issue affects Cilium versions:
- 1.7.* to 1.10.* inclusive
- 1.11.* before 1.11.16
- 1.12.* before 1.12.9
- 1.13.* before 1.13.2
In addition, Cilium 1.12.* before 1.12.9 and 1.13.* before 1.13.2., when running in debug mode, might log secrets used by the Cilium agent. This includes TLS private keys for Ingress and GatewayAPI resources, depending on the configuration of the affected cluster. Output of the confidential data would occur at Cilium agent restart, when the secrets are modified, and on creation of Ingress or GatewayAPI resources.
Patches
This vulnerability is fixed in Cilium releases 1.11.16, 1.12.9, and 1.13.2.
Workarounds
Disable debug mode.
Acknowledgements
The Cilium community has worked together with members of Isovalent to prepare these mitigations. Special thanks to @meyskens for investigating 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-pg5p-wwp8-97g8- CVSS 3.1
- 7.2 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-532
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
NVD
7.2
Cilium is a networking, observability, and security solution with an eBPF-based dataplane. When run in debug mode, Cilium will log the contents of the cilium-secrets namespace. This could include data such as TLS private keys for Ingress and GatewayAPI resources. An attacker with access to debug output from the Cilium containers could use the resulting output to intercept and modify traffic to and from the affected cluster. Output of the sensitive information would occur at Cilium agent restart, when secrets in the namespace are modified, and on creation of Ingress or GatewayAPI resources. This vulnerability is fixed in Cilium releases 1.11.16, 1.12.9, and 1.13.2. Users unable to upgrade should disable debug mode.
- Record
CVE-2023-29002- CVSS 3.1
- 7.2 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N - CVSS 3.1
- 6.3 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-532
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSV
7.2
Debug mode leaks confidential data in Cilium
Cilium is a networking, observability, and security solution with an eBPF-based dataplane. When run in debug mode, Cilium will log the contents of the cilium-secrets namespace. This could include data such as TLS private keys for Ingress and GatewayAPI resources. An attacker with access to debug output from the Cilium containers could use the resulting output to intercept and modify traffic to and from the affected cluster. Output of the sensitive information would occur at Cilium agent restart, when secrets in the namespace are modified, and on creation of Ingress or GatewayAPI resources. This vulnerability is fixed in Cilium releases 1.11.16, 1.12.9, and 1.13.2. Users unable to upgrade should disable debug mode.
- Record
CVE-2023-29002- CVSS 3.1
- 7.2 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-532
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVGHSA-pg5p-wwp8-97g8
7.2
Debug mode leaks confidential data in Cilium
Impact
When run in debug mode, Cilium may log sensitive information.
In particular, Cilium running in debug mode will log the values of headers if they match HTTP network policy rules. This issue affects Cilium versions:
- 1.7.* to 1.10.* inclusive
- 1.11.* before 1.11.16
- 1.12.* before 1.12.9
- 1.13.* before 1.13.2
In addition, Cilium 1.12.* before 1.12.9 and 1.13.* before 1.13.2., when running in debug mode, might log secrets used by the Cilium agent. This includes TLS private keys for Ingress and GatewayAPI resources, depending on the configuration of the affected cluster. Output of the confidential data would occur at Cilium agent restart, when the secrets are modified, and on creation of Ingress or GatewayAPI resources.
Patches
This vulnerability is fixed in Cilium releases 1.11.16, 1.12.9, and 1.13.2.
Workarounds
Disable debug mode.
Acknowledgements
The Cilium community has worked together with members of Isovalent to prepare these mitigations. Special thanks to @meyskens for investigating 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-pg5p-wwp8-97g8- CVSS 3.1
- 7.2 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-532
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
Show 8 moreShow less
OSVBIT-cilium-2023-29002 No score
Debug mode leaks confidential data in Cilium
Cilium is a networking, observability, and security solution with an eBPF-based dataplane. When run in debug mode, Cilium will log the contents of the cilium-secrets namespace. This could include data such as TLS private keys for Ingress and GatewayAPI resources. An attacker with access to debug output from the Cilium containers could use the resulting output to intercept and modify traffic to and from the affected cluster. Output of the sensitive information would occur at Cilium agent restart, when secrets in the namespace are modified, and on creation of Ingress or GatewayAPI resources. This vulnerability is fixed in Cilium releases 1.11.16, 1.12.9, and 1.13.2. Users unable to upgrade should disable debug mode.
- Record
BIT-cilium-2023-29002- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVBIT-cilium-operator-2023-29002 No score
Debug mode leaks confidential data in Cilium
Cilium is a networking, observability, and security solution with an eBPF-based dataplane. When run in debug mode, Cilium will log the contents of the cilium-secrets namespace. This could include data such as TLS private keys for Ingress and GatewayAPI resources. An attacker with access to debug output from the Cilium containers could use the resulting output to intercept and modify traffic to and from the affected cluster. Output of the sensitive information would occur at Cilium agent restart, when secrets in the namespace are modified, and on creation of Ingress or GatewayAPI resources. This vulnerability is fixed in Cilium releases 1.11.16, 1.12.9, and 1.13.2. Users unable to upgrade should disable debug mode.
- Record
BIT-cilium-operator-2023-29002- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVBIT-cilium-proxy-2023-29002 No score
Cilium is a networking, observability, and security solution with an eBPF-based dataplane. When run in debug mode, Cilium will log the contents of the cilium-secrets namespace. This could include data such as TLS private keys for Ingress and GatewayAPI resources. An attacker with access to debug output from the Cilium containers could use the resulting output to intercept and modify traffic to and from the affected cluster. Output of the sensitive information would occur at Cilium agent restart, when secrets in the namespace are modified, and on creation of Ingress or GatewayAPI resources. This vulnerability is fixed in Cilium releases 1.11.16, 1.12.9, and 1.13.2. Users unable to upgrade should disable debug mode.
- Record
BIT-cilium-proxy-2023-29002- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVBIT-hubble-2023-29002 No score
Cilium is a networking, observability, and security solution with an eBPF-based dataplane. When run in debug mode, Cilium will log the contents of the cilium-secrets namespace. This could include data such as TLS private keys for Ingress and GatewayAPI resources. An attacker with access to debug output from the Cilium containers could use the resulting output to intercept and modify traffic to and from the affected cluster. Output of the sensitive information would occur at Cilium agent restart, when secrets in the namespace are modified, and on creation of Ingress or GatewayAPI resources. This vulnerability is fixed in Cilium releases 1.11.16, 1.12.9, and 1.13.2. Users unable to upgrade should disable debug mode.
- Record
BIT-hubble-2023-29002- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVBIT-hubble-relay-2023-29002 No score
Debug mode leaks confidential data in Cilium
Cilium is a networking, observability, and security solution with an eBPF-based dataplane. When run in debug mode, Cilium will log the contents of the cilium-secrets namespace. This could include data such as TLS private keys for Ingress and GatewayAPI resources. An attacker with access to debug output from the Cilium containers could use the resulting output to intercept and modify traffic to and from the affected cluster. Output of the sensitive information would occur at Cilium agent restart, when secrets in the namespace are modified, and on creation of Ingress or GatewayAPI resources. This vulnerability is fixed in Cilium releases 1.11.16, 1.12.9, and 1.13.2. Users unable to upgrade should disable debug mode.
- Record
BIT-hubble-relay-2023-29002- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVBIT-hubble-ui-2023-29002 No score
Cilium is a networking, observability, and security solution with an eBPF-based dataplane. When run in debug mode, Cilium will log the contents of the cilium-secrets namespace. This could include data such as TLS private keys for Ingress and GatewayAPI resources. An attacker with access to debug output from the Cilium containers could use the resulting output to intercept and modify traffic to and from the affected cluster. Output of the sensitive information would occur at Cilium agent restart, when secrets in the namespace are modified, and on creation of Ingress or GatewayAPI resources. This vulnerability is fixed in Cilium releases 1.11.16, 1.12.9, and 1.13.2. Users unable to upgrade should disable debug mode.
- Record
BIT-hubble-ui-2023-29002- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVBIT-hubble-ui-backend-2023-29002 No score
Cilium is a networking, observability, and security solution with an eBPF-based dataplane. When run in debug mode, Cilium will log the contents of the cilium-secrets namespace. This could include data such as TLS private keys for Ingress and GatewayAPI resources. An attacker with access to debug output from the Cilium containers could use the resulting output to intercept and modify traffic to and from the affected cluster. Output of the sensitive information would occur at Cilium agent restart, when secrets in the namespace are modified, and on creation of Ingress or GatewayAPI resources. This vulnerability is fixed in Cilium releases 1.11.16, 1.12.9, and 1.13.2. Users unable to upgrade should disable debug mode.
- Record
BIT-hubble-ui-backend-2023-29002- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVGO-2023-1730 No score
Debug mode leaks confidential data in Cilium in github.com/cilium/cilium
Debug mode leaks confidential data in Cilium in github.com/cilium/cilium
- Record
GO-2023-1730- Updated
- 2026-11-02
Affected products
Affected packages
| Package | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|
github.com/cilium/ciliumGo |
1.7.0 to 1.10.0 | None known |
github.com/cilium/ciliumGo |
1.11.0 up to 1.11.16 | 1.11.16 |
github.com/cilium/ciliumGo |
1.12.0 up to 1.12.9 | 1.12.9 |
github.com/cilium/ciliumGo |
1.13.0 up to 1.13.2 | 1.13.2 |
ciliumBitnami |
1.7.0 up to 1.11.16, 1.12.0 up to 1.12.9, 1.13.0 up to 1.13.2 | 1.11.161.12.91.13.2 |
cilium-operatorBitnami |
1.7.0 up to 1.11.16, 1.12.0 up to 1.12.9, 1.13.0 up to 1.13.2 | 1.11.161.12.91.13.2 |
cilium-proxyBitnami |
1.7.0 up to 1.11.16, 1.12.0 up to 1.12.9, 1.13.0 up to 1.13.2 | 1.11.161.12.91.13.2 |
hubbleBitnami |
1.7.0 up to 1.11.16, 1.12.0 up to 1.12.9, 1.13.0 up to 1.13.2 | 1.11.161.12.91.13.2 |
hubble-relayBitnami |
1.7.0 up to 1.11.16, 1.12.0 up to 1.12.9, 1.13.0 up to 1.13.2 | 1.11.161.12.91.13.2 |
hubble-uiBitnami |
1.7.0 up to 1.11.16, 1.12.0 up to 1.12.9, 1.13.0 up to 1.13.2 | 1.11.161.12.91.13.2 |
hubble-ui-backendBitnami |
1.7.0 up to 1.11.16, 1.12.0 up to 1.12.9, 1.13.0 up to 1.13.2 | 1.11.161.12.91.13.2 |
github.com/cilium/ciliumGo |
1.7.0 up to 1.11.16, 1.12.0 up to 1.12.9, 1.13.0 up to 1.13.2 | 1.11.161.12.91.13.2 |
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-2023-29002 is a high vulnerability (CVSS 7.2) in Cilium, published April 18, 2023. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 0.20%, the 9th percentile. Fixed in github.com/cilium/cilium 1.11.16.