CVE-2023-34242
Cilium vulnerable to information leakage via incorrect ReferenceGrant handling
Cilium is a networking, observability, and security solution with an eBPF-based dataplane. Prior to version 1.13.4, when Gateway API is enabled in Cilium, the absence of a check on the namespace in which a ReferenceGrant is created could result in Cilium unintentionally gaining visibility of secrets (including certificates) and services across namespaces. An attacker on an affected cluster can leverage this issue to use cluster secrets that should not be visible to them, or communicate with services that they should not have access to. Gateway API functionality is disabled by default. This vulnerability is fixed in Cilium release 1.13.4. As a workaround, restrict the creation of ReferenceGrant resources to admin users by using Kubernetes RBAC.
Attack profile
How easy it is to exploit
- Attack vector
- Adjacent network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges needed
- High
- User interaction
- None
What an attacker can affect
- Confidentiality
- Low
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
Exploit likelihood
What each source reports
CVE List Score used
Cilium vulnerable to information leakage via incorrect ReferenceGrant handling
Cilium is a networking, observability, and security solution with an eBPF-based dataplane. Prior to version 1.13.4, when Gateway API is enabled in Cilium, the absence of a check on the namespace in which a ReferenceGrant is created could result in Cilium unintentionally gaining visibility of secrets (including certificates) and services across namespaces. An attacker on an affected cluster can leverage this issue to use cluster secrets that should not be visible to them, or communicate with services that they should not have access to. Gateway API functionality is disabled by default. This vulnerability is fixed in Cilium release 1.13.4. As a workaround, restrict the creation of ReferenceGrant resources to admin users by using Kubernetes RBAC.
- Record
CVE-2023-34242- CVSS 3.1
- 3.4 Low
CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:N/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-200
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2023-1875
Cilium is a networking, observability, and security solution with an eBPF-based dataplane. Prior to version 1.13.4, when Gateway API is enabled in Cilium, the absence of a check on the namespace in which a ReferenceGrant is created could result in Cilium unintentionally gaining visibility of secrets (including certificates) and services across namespaces. An attacker on an affected cluster can leverage this issue to use cluster secrets that should not be visible to them, or communicate with services that they should not have access to. Gateway API functionality is disabled by default. This vulnerability is fixed in Cilium release 1.13.4. As a workaround, restrict the creation of ReferenceGrant resources to admin users by using Kubernetes RBAC.
- Record
EUVD-2023-1875- CVSS 3.1
- 3.4 Low
CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:N/A:N - Updated
- 2026-11-03
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-r7wr-4w5q-55m6
Cilium vulnerable to information leakage via incorrect ReferenceGrant handling
Impact
When the Gateway API is enabled in Cilium, the absence of a check on the namespace in which a ReferenceGrant is created could result in Cilium gaining visibility of secrets (including certificates) and services across namespaces.
An attacker on an affected cluster can configure Cilium to use cluster secrets or communicate with services that it should not have access to.
Gateway API functionality is disabled by default.
Patches
This vulnerability is fixed in Cilium release 1.13.4.
Cilium versions <1.13 are not affected.
Workarounds
There is no workaround to this issue.
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-r7wr-4w5q-55m6- CVSS 3.1
- 3.4 Low
CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:N/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-200
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
NVD
Cilium is a networking, observability, and security solution with an eBPF-based dataplane. Prior to version 1.13.4, when Gateway API is enabled in Cilium, the absence of a check on the namespace in which a ReferenceGrant is created could result in Cilium unintentionally gaining visibility of secrets (including certificates) and services across namespaces. An attacker on an affected cluster can leverage this issue to use cluster secrets that should not be visible to them, or communicate with services that they should not have access to. Gateway API functionality is disabled by default. This vulnerability is fixed in Cilium release 1.13.4. As a workaround, restrict the creation of ReferenceGrant resources to admin users by using Kubernetes RBAC.
- Record
CVE-2023-34242- CVSS 3.1
- 3.4 Low
CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:N/A:N - CVSS 3.1
- 5.3 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-200
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSV
Cilium vulnerable to information leakage via incorrect ReferenceGrant handling
Cilium is a networking, observability, and security solution with an eBPF-based dataplane. Prior to version 1.13.4, when Gateway API is enabled in Cilium, the absence of a check on the namespace in which a ReferenceGrant is created could result in Cilium unintentionally gaining visibility of secrets (including certificates) and services across namespaces. An attacker on an affected cluster can leverage this issue to use cluster secrets that should not be visible to them, or communicate with services that they should not have access to. Gateway API functionality is disabled by default. This vulnerability is fixed in Cilium release 1.13.4. As a workaround, restrict the creation of ReferenceGrant resources to admin users by using Kubernetes RBAC.
- Record
CVE-2023-34242- CVSS 3.1
- 3.4 Low
CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:N/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-200
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVGHSA-r7wr-4w5q-55m6
Cilium vulnerable to information leakage via incorrect ReferenceGrant handling
Impact
When the Gateway API is enabled in Cilium, the absence of a check on the namespace in which a ReferenceGrant is created could result in Cilium gaining visibility of secrets (including certificates) and services across namespaces.
An attacker on an affected cluster can configure Cilium to use cluster secrets or communicate with services that it should not have access to.
Gateway API functionality is disabled by default.
Patches
This vulnerability is fixed in Cilium release 1.13.4.
Cilium versions <1.13 are not affected.
Workarounds
There is no workaround to this issue.
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-r7wr-4w5q-55m6- CVSS 3.1
- 3.4 Low
CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:N/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-200
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
Show 8 moreShow less
OSVBIT-cilium-2023-34242 No score
Cilium vulnerable to information leakage via incorrect ReferenceGrant handling
Cilium is a networking, observability, and security solution with an eBPF-based dataplane. Prior to version 1.13.4, when Gateway API is enabled in Cilium, the absence of a check on the namespace in which a ReferenceGrant is created could result in Cilium unintentionally gaining visibility of secrets (including certificates) and services across namespaces. An attacker on an affected cluster can leverage this issue to use cluster secrets that should not be visible to them, or communicate with services that they should not have access to. Gateway API functionality is disabled by default. This vulnerability is fixed in Cilium release 1.13.4. As a workaround, restrict the creation of ReferenceGrant resources to admin users by using Kubernetes RBAC.
- Record
BIT-cilium-2023-34242- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVBIT-cilium-operator-2023-34242 No score
Cilium vulnerable to information leakage via incorrect ReferenceGrant handling
Cilium is a networking, observability, and security solution with an eBPF-based dataplane. Prior to version 1.13.4, when Gateway API is enabled in Cilium, the absence of a check on the namespace in which a ReferenceGrant is created could result in Cilium unintentionally gaining visibility of secrets (including certificates) and services across namespaces. An attacker on an affected cluster can leverage this issue to use cluster secrets that should not be visible to them, or communicate with services that they should not have access to. Gateway API functionality is disabled by default. This vulnerability is fixed in Cilium release 1.13.4. As a workaround, restrict the creation of ReferenceGrant resources to admin users by using Kubernetes RBAC.
- Record
BIT-cilium-operator-2023-34242- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVBIT-cilium-proxy-2023-34242 No score
Cilium is a networking, observability, and security solution with an eBPF-based dataplane. Prior to version 1.13.4, when Gateway API is enabled in Cilium, the absence of a check on the namespace in which a ReferenceGrant is created could result in Cilium unintentionally gaining visibility of secrets (including certificates) and services across namespaces. An attacker on an affected cluster can leverage this issue to use cluster secrets that should not be visible to them, or communicate with services that they should not have access to. Gateway API functionality is disabled by default. This vulnerability is fixed in Cilium release 1.13.4. As a workaround, restrict the creation of ReferenceGrant resources to admin users by using Kubernetes RBAC.
- Record
BIT-cilium-proxy-2023-34242- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVBIT-hubble-2023-34242 No score
Cilium is a networking, observability, and security solution with an eBPF-based dataplane. Prior to version 1.13.4, when Gateway API is enabled in Cilium, the absence of a check on the namespace in which a ReferenceGrant is created could result in Cilium unintentionally gaining visibility of secrets (including certificates) and services across namespaces. An attacker on an affected cluster can leverage this issue to use cluster secrets that should not be visible to them, or communicate with services that they should not have access to. Gateway API functionality is disabled by default. This vulnerability is fixed in Cilium release 1.13.4. As a workaround, restrict the creation of ReferenceGrant resources to admin users by using Kubernetes RBAC.
- Record
BIT-hubble-2023-34242- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVBIT-hubble-relay-2023-34242 No score
Cilium vulnerable to information leakage via incorrect ReferenceGrant handling
Cilium is a networking, observability, and security solution with an eBPF-based dataplane. Prior to version 1.13.4, when Gateway API is enabled in Cilium, the absence of a check on the namespace in which a ReferenceGrant is created could result in Cilium unintentionally gaining visibility of secrets (including certificates) and services across namespaces. An attacker on an affected cluster can leverage this issue to use cluster secrets that should not be visible to them, or communicate with services that they should not have access to. Gateway API functionality is disabled by default. This vulnerability is fixed in Cilium release 1.13.4. As a workaround, restrict the creation of ReferenceGrant resources to admin users by using Kubernetes RBAC.
- Record
BIT-hubble-relay-2023-34242- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVBIT-hubble-ui-2023-34242 No score
Cilium is a networking, observability, and security solution with an eBPF-based dataplane. Prior to version 1.13.4, when Gateway API is enabled in Cilium, the absence of a check on the namespace in which a ReferenceGrant is created could result in Cilium unintentionally gaining visibility of secrets (including certificates) and services across namespaces. An attacker on an affected cluster can leverage this issue to use cluster secrets that should not be visible to them, or communicate with services that they should not have access to. Gateway API functionality is disabled by default. This vulnerability is fixed in Cilium release 1.13.4. As a workaround, restrict the creation of ReferenceGrant resources to admin users by using Kubernetes RBAC.
- Record
BIT-hubble-ui-2023-34242- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVBIT-hubble-ui-backend-2023-34242 No score
Cilium is a networking, observability, and security solution with an eBPF-based dataplane. Prior to version 1.13.4, when Gateway API is enabled in Cilium, the absence of a check on the namespace in which a ReferenceGrant is created could result in Cilium unintentionally gaining visibility of secrets (including certificates) and services across namespaces. An attacker on an affected cluster can leverage this issue to use cluster secrets that should not be visible to them, or communicate with services that they should not have access to. Gateway API functionality is disabled by default. This vulnerability is fixed in Cilium release 1.13.4. As a workaround, restrict the creation of ReferenceGrant resources to admin users by using Kubernetes RBAC.
- Record
BIT-hubble-ui-backend-2023-34242- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVGO-2023-1862 No score
Cilium vulnerable to information leakage via incorrect ReferenceGrant handling in github.com/cilium/cilium
Cilium vulnerable to information leakage via incorrect ReferenceGrant handling in github.com/cilium/cilium
- Record
GO-2023-1862- Updated
- 2026-11-02
Affected products
Affected packages
| Package | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|
github.com/cilium/ciliumGo |
1.13.0 up to 1.13.4 | 1.13.4 |
ciliumBitnami |
before 1.13.4 | 1.13.4 |
cilium-operatorBitnami |
before 1.13.4 | 1.13.4 |
cilium-proxyBitnami |
before 1.13.4 | 1.13.4 |
hubbleBitnami |
before 1.13.4 | 1.13.4 |
hubble-relayBitnami |
before 1.13.4 | 1.13.4 |
hubble-uiBitnami |
before 1.13.4 | 1.13.4 |
hubble-ui-backendBitnami |
before 1.13.4 | 1.13.4 |
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-2023-34242 is a low vulnerability (CVSS 3.4) in Cilium, published June 15, 2023. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 0.30%, the 23rd percentile. Fixed in github.com/cilium/cilium 1.13.4.