CVE-2023-3955 | Kubernetes - Windows nodes - Insufficient input sanitization leads to privilege escalation

Exp

A security issue was discovered in Kubernetes where a user that can create pods on Windows nodes may be able to escalate to admin privileges on those nodes. Kubernetes clusters are only affected if they include Windows nodes.

Published: 2023-10-31 Last update: 2025-02-13 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2023-3955 is rated High Exploit Risk (75.7/100): CVSS High severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.76%). 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). Public exploits are available—assess exposure, apply mitigations, and prioritize patching.

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

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2023-3955

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
— nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2023-3955

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 2025-11-21 0.62% 0.76% +0.14%
2 2025-11-18 0.79% 0.62% -0.16%
3 2025-09-10 — 0.79% —

Full EPSS history (13 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-3955

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]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2023-3955

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2023-3955

GHSA-q78c-gwqw-jcmc · Severity: high · Ecosystem: go — Kubernetes privilege escalation vulnerability

OS Trackers for CVE-2023-3955

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2023-3955 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (kubernetes), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2023-3955
redhat high — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-3955

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-3955

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
kubernetes kubernetes < 1.24.17 cpe:2.3:a:kubernetes:kubernetes:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
kubernetes kubernetes >= 1.25.0, < 1.25.13 cpe:2.3:a:kubernetes:kubernetes:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
kubernetes kubernetes >= 1.26.0, < 1.26.8 cpe:2.3:a:kubernetes:kubernetes:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
kubernetes kubernetes >= 1.27.0, < 1.27.5 cpe:2.3:a:kubernetes:kubernetes:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
kubernetes kubernetes >= 1.28.0, < 1.28.1 cpe:2.3:a:kubernetes:kubernetes:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2023-3955

cvelogic Threat Intelligence