Vulnerability · Published Jan 21, 2021 · Assigned by kubernetes
CVE-2020-8554Kubernetes man in the middle using LoadBalancer or ExternalIPs
Medium 6.3
In plain English
A medium-severity security flaw in Kubernetes from Kubernetes. There are no confirmed reports of exploitation so far. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 8.7% (higher than 95% of all known vulnerabilities). Ready-made attack tooling exists: public proof-of-concept code. Fixed versions are available - upgrade the affected package.
Official description
Kubernetes API server in all versions allow an attacker who is able to create a ClusterIP service and set the spec.externalIPs field, to intercept traffic to that IP address. Additionally, an attacker who is able to patch the status (which is considered a privileged operation and should not typically be granted to users) of a LoadBalancer service can set the status.loadBalancer.ingress.ip to similar effect.
Affected packages & fixed versions
| Ecosystem | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debian:13 | kubernetes | 1.31.4+ds-1 | DEBIAN-CVE-2020-8554 |
| Debian:14 | kubernetes | 1.31.4+ds-1 | DEBIAN-CVE-2020-8554 |
| Go | k8s.io/kubernetes | no fix listed | GHSA-j9wf-vvm6-4r9w |
| Ubuntu:22.04:LTS | kubernetes | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2020-8554 |
| Ubuntu:24.04:LTS | kubernetes | no fix listed | UBUNTU-CVE-2020-8554 |
Affected products (as reported)
| Vendor | Product | Versions |
|---|---|---|
| Kubernetes | Kubernetes | 0 – before * |
Weakness: CWE-283 · Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L
References
- https://kubernetes.io/blog/2026/05/26/reconciling-unfixed-kubernetes-cves/ x_refsource_MISC
- https://groups.google.com/g/kubernetes-security-announce/c/iZWsF9nbKE8 x_refsource_MISC
- https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/issues/97076 x_refsource_MISC
- [druid-commits] 20210201 [GitHub] [druid] jon-wei opened a new pull request #10826: Address CVE-2020-8570, suppress CVE-2020-8554 mailing-list, x_refsource_MLIST
- [druid-commits] 20210202 [GitHub] [druid] jon-wei opened a new pull request #10826: Address CVE-2020-8570, suppress CVE-2020-8554 mailing-list, x_refsource_MLIST
- [druid-commits] 20210203 [GitHub] [druid] jihoonson commented on pull request #10826: Address CVE-2020-8570, suppress CVE-2020-8554 mailing-list, x_refsource_MLIST
- [druid-commits] 20210203 [GitHub] [druid] jihoonson merged pull request #10826: Address CVE-2020-8570, suppress CVE-2020-8554 mailing-list, x_refsource_MLIST
- https://www.oracle.com//security-alerts/cpujul2021.html x_refsource_MISC
- https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpujan2022.html x_refsource_MISC
- https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpuapr2022.html x_refsource_MISC