Kubernetes up to 1.31.11/1.32.7/1.33.3 NodeRestriction Admission Controller authorization

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in Kubernetes up to 1.31.11/1.32.7/1.33.3. It has been classified as problematic. This vulnerability affects unknown code of the component NodeRestriction Admission Controller. The manipulation leads to authorization. This vulnerability is traded as CVE-2025-5187. It is possible to initiate the attack remotely. There is no exploit available.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as problematic, has been found in Kubernetes up to 1.31.11/1.32.7/1.33.3. This issue affects an unknown code block of the component NodeRestriction Admission Controller. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a authorization vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-863. The product performs an authorization check when an actor attempts to access a resource or perform an action, but it does not correctly perform the check. This allows attackers to bypass intended access restrictions. Impacted is confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

A vulnerability exists in the NodeRestriction admission controller in Kubernetes clusters where node users can delete their corresponding node object by patching themselves with an OwnerReference to a cluster-scoped resource. If the OwnerReference resource does not exist or is subsequently deleted, the given node object will be deleted via garbage collection.

The weakness was shared by Paul Viossat. It is possible to read the advisory at github.com. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2025-5187 since 05/25/2025. The exploitation is known to be easy. The attack may be initiated remotely. Additional levels of successful authentication are needed for exploitation. The technical details are unknown and an exploit is not publicly available. The pricing for an exploit might be around USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 08/30/2025).

There is no information about possible countermeasures known. It may be suggested to replace the affected object with an alternative product.

The vulnerability is also documented in the vulnerability database at EUVD (EUVD-2025-25937). Be aware that VulDB is the high quality source for vulnerability data.

Productinfo

Type

• Virtualization Software

Name

• Kubernetes

Version

• 1.31.0
• 1.31.1
• 1.31.2
• 1.31.3
• 1.31.4
• 1.31.5
• 1.31.6
• 1.31.7
• 1.31.8
• 1.31.9
• 1.31.10
• 1.31.11
• 1.32.0
• 1.32.1
• 1.32.2
• 1.32.3
• 1.32.4
• 1.32.5
• 1.32.6
• 1.32.7
• 1.33.0
• 1.33.1
• 1.33.2
• 1.33.3

License

• open-source

Website

• Product: https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/

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Be aware that VulDB is the high quality source for vulnerability data.

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