CVE-2024-53350 in kubeslice
Summary
by MITRE • 03/21/2025
Insecure permissions in kubeslice v1.3.1 allow attackers to gain access to the service account's token, leading to escalation of privileges.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 03/21/2025
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2024-53350 affects kubeslice v1.3.1 and represents a critical security flaw related to improper permission configuration within containerized Kubernetes environments. This issue stems from insecure permissions that allow unauthorized attackers to access service account tokens, fundamentally compromising the security posture of affected systems. The vulnerability specifically targets the Kubernetes service account mechanism which serves as a crucial authentication and authorization component for workloads running within cluster environments.
The technical flaw manifests through inadequate access control policies that fail to properly restrict access to sensitive service account tokens. When service accounts are improperly configured with excessive permissions or lack proper isolation controls, attackers can exploit this weakness to extract authentication credentials. These tokens typically contain sensitive information that grants access to cluster resources and can be leveraged to escalate privileges within the Kubernetes environment. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-276, which addresses improper permissions and access control issues, and represents a direct violation of the principle of least privilege that should govern all containerized environments.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple credential theft, as successful exploitation enables attackers to perform privilege escalation attacks within the Kubernetes cluster. Once an attacker obtains a service account token, they can potentially access other cluster resources, deploy malicious workloads, modify existing applications, or even exfiltrate sensitive data from the environment. This threat vector particularly affects multi-tenant Kubernetes deployments where proper isolation between workloads is essential for maintaining security boundaries. The attack surface is further expanded when considering that service accounts often possess elevated permissions that can be used to interact with the Kubernetes API server and manipulate cluster state.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2024-53350 must address both immediate remediation and long-term security hardening measures. Organizations should immediately review and correct service account permissions to ensure they follow the principle of least privilege, implementing strict access controls and role-based access controls that limit token usage to specific required operations. The implementation of Kubernetes Pod Security Standards and proper namespace isolation can significantly reduce the attack surface. Additionally, organizations should deploy monitoring solutions that can detect unauthorized access attempts to service account tokens and implement automated token rotation mechanisms. This vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of proper identity and access management within containerized environments and aligns with ATT&CK technique T1548.001 for privilege escalation through service account token manipulation. Regular security audits and adherence to Kubernetes security best practices, including the use of security context constraints and proper admission controller configurations, are essential for preventing similar vulnerabilities from emerging in future deployments.