CVE-2021-31999 | Rancher: Privilege escalation vulnerability via malicious Connection header

A Reliance on Untrusted Inputs in a Security Decision vulnerability in Rancher allows users in the cluster to act as others users in the cluster by forging the "Impersonate-User" or "Impersonate-Group" headers. This issue affects: Rancher versions prior to 2.5.9. Rancher versions prior to 2.4.16.

Published: 2021-07-15 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2021-31999 is rated Moderate Risk (56.8/100): CVSS High severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 1.05%). Mandatory action: Review affected assets and schedule remediation.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2021-31999

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-06-15 0.35% 1.05% +0.70%
2 2025-03-30 0.69% 0.35% -0.33%
3 2025-03-29 0.69%

Full EPSS history (9 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2021-31999

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
8.8 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
2.8 5.9 [email protected]
8.8 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
2.8 5.9 [email protected]
6.5 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:P/I:P/A:P Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
Authentication (AU:S)
A single authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:P)
Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:P)
Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P)
Partial availability impact.
8.0 6.4 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2021-31999

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2021-31999

GHSA-pvxj-25m6-7vqr · Severity: high · Ecosystem: go — Rancher Privilege escalation vulnerability via malicious "Connection" header

OS Trackers for CVE-2021-31999

vendor priority summary link
suse high https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2021-31999/

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2021-31999

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
rancher rancher < 2.4.16 cpe:2.3:a:rancher:rancher:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
rancher rancher >= 2.5.0, < 2.5.9 cpe:2.3:a:rancher:rancher:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2021-31999

URL Tags
https://bugzilla.suse.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1187084 Issue Tracking Release Notes Third Party Advisory
cvelogic Threat Intelligence