CVE-2023-22651 [Critical] | Privilege Escalation in Rancher

Improper Privilege Management vulnerability in SUSE Rancher allows Privilege Escalation. A failure in the update logic of Rancher's admission Webhook may lead to the misconfiguration of the Webhook. This component enforces validation rules and security checks before resources are admitted into the Kubernetes cluster. The issue only affects users that upgrade from 2.6.x or 2.7.x to 2.7.2. Users that did a fresh install of 2.7.2 (and did not follow an upgrade path) are not affected.

#	Date	Old EPSS score	New EPSS score	Delta (New - Old)
1	2026-06-15	0.37%	0.78%	+0.41%
2	2026-05-12	0.45%	0.37%	-0.09%
3	2026-05-05	—	0.45%	—

Date

Old EPSS score

New EPSS score

Delta (New - Old)

2026-06-15

0.37%

0.78%

+0.41%

2026-05-12

0.45%

0.37%

-0.09%

2026-05-05

—

0.45%

—

Base score	Version	Severity	Vector	Exploitability	Impact	Score source
9.9	3.1	CRITICAL	`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/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:C) Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius. 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.	3.1	6.0	[email protected]
9.9	3.1	CRITICAL	`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/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:C) Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius. 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.	3.1	6.0	[email protected]
9.9	3.1	CRITICAL	`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/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:C) Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius. 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.	3.1	6.0	134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0

Base score

Version

Severity

Vector

Exploitability

Impact

Score source

9.9

3.1

CRITICAL

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/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:C): Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius.
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.

3.1

6.0

[email protected]

9.9

3.1

CRITICAL

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/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:C): Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius.
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.

3.1

6.0

[email protected]

9.9

3.1

CRITICAL

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/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:C): Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius.
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.

3.1

6.0

134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-22651

Vendor	Product	Version	Raw CPE
suse	rancher	>= 2.6.0, <= 2.7.2	cpe:2.3:a:suse:rancher::::::::

References for CVE-2023-22651

URL	Tags
https://bugzilla.suse.com/show_bug.cgi?id=CVE-2023-22651	Issue Tracking Vendor Advisory
https://github.com/rancher/rancher/security/advisories/GHSA-6m9f-pj6w-w87g	Mitigation Third Party Advisory

URL

CVE-2023-22651

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2023-22651

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-22651

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2023-22651

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2023-22651

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-22651

References for CVE-2023-22651