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Severe Vulnerability Patched in CRI-O Container Engine for Kubernetes

A severe vulnerability affecting the CRI-O container engine for Kubernetes could be exploited to escape the container and gain root access to the host, CrowdStrike reports.

CRI-O is a lightweight container runtime for Kubernetes with support for OCI (Open Container Initiative) compatible runtimes.

A severe vulnerability affecting the CRI-O container engine for Kubernetes could be exploited to escape the container and gain root access to the host, CrowdStrike reports.

CRI-O is a lightweight container runtime for Kubernetes with support for OCI (Open Container Initiative) compatible runtimes.

Tracked as CVE-2022-0811 (CVSS score of 8.8), the vulnerability exists due to the lack of proper validation for kernel parameters passed to the pinns utility. The issue was introduced in CRI-O version 1.19, when sysctl support was added to the container engine.

Referred to as cr8escape, the security hole could be exploited by an attacker to “escape from a Kubernetes container and gain root access to the host and be able to move anywhere in the cluster,” CrowdStrike said.

Exploitation requires rights to deploy a pod on a Kubernetes cluster that uses the CRI-O runtime.

[ READ: High-Severity Flaw in Argo CD Is Information Leak Risk ]

In addition to malware execution, the security defect could allow an attacker to perform other actions on the host, including data exfiltration and lateral movement across pods.

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According to CrowdStrke, which has published proof-of-concept (PoC) code targeting the flaw, the potential impact of this vulnerability is widespread, given the broad, default use of CRI-O by many platforms. Thus, users are advised to update CRI-O immediately, to prevent potential attacks.

The flaw was resolved with the release of CRI-O versions 1.22.3, 1.21.6, 1.20.7, and 1.19.6.

“This version contains a fix to a critical security vulnerability, CVE-2022-0811. Users are encouraged to upgrade to this version to protect against this vulnerability,” the CRI-O team notes for each of these iterations.

Mitigation steps include blocking pods that contain sysctl settings with values containing “+” or “=”, blocking all sysctls, or employing a pinns wrapper to strip the “-s” option – thus preventing pods from modifying kernel parameters. Although not recommended, a downgrade to CRI-O version 1.18 or earlier could also prevent exploitation.

Related: New CISA and NSA Guidance Details Steps to Harden Kubernetes Systems

Related: Threat Actors Target Kubernetes Clusters via Argo Workflows

Related: New ‘Hildegard’ Malware Targets Kubernetes Systems

Written By

Ionut Arghire is an international correspondent for SecurityWeek.

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