Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
OpenShift versions before 4.1.3 could place OAuth tokens in API server audit logs. If a highly privileged person could read those logs, they might reuse a token to access resources as another user or service. The issue is low severity but important for environments with broad log access or long log retention.
Executive priority
Treat this as a targeted hygiene and containment item, not an emergency. Prioritize affected OpenShift clusters with broad operations access, centralized log aggregation, or long audit retention.
Technical view
OpenShift Container Platform before 4.1.3 logged OAuth tokens in plaintext in Kubernetes API server and OpenShift API server audit logs. The weakness maps to CWE-532 and has CVSS 3.0 score 2.3, requiring high privileges and local access with limited confidentiality impact.
Likely exposure
Exposure is limited to OpenShift Container Platform deployments before 4.1.3 where API server audit logs were enabled and accessible to privileged users. Retained logs from affected versions may still contain sensitive tokens.
Exploitation context
The source bundle marks KEV false and provides no cited evidence of active exploitation. Abuse requires sufficient privileges to access audit logs and depends on whether usable OAuth tokens remain present in retained logs.
Researcher notes
Primary evidence identifies plaintext OAuth token logging and fixes in operator pull requests. The public bundle does not include exploit reports, detailed patch behavior, or standalone mitigations beyond the fixed version, so remediation should stay aligned to Red Hat guidance.
Mitigation direction
- Upgrade OpenShift Container Platform to 4.1.3 or later, following Red Hat guidance.
- Restrict audit log access to the smallest operational group required.
- Review retained API server audit logs for possible token disclosure.
- Rotate or revoke exposed OAuth tokens after confirming exposure and vendor guidance.
- Preserve incident evidence while avoiding unnecessary copying of plaintext tokens.
Validation and detection
- Confirm all OpenShift clusters are running version 4.1.3 or later.
- Identify audit log locations for Kubernetes API server and OpenShift API server.
- Review log access permissions and privileged user groups.
- Check retained logs from affected versions for sensitive token exposure.
- Document any exposed principals and token rotation actions.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CWE-532: Exact CWE lookup
Use the exact CWE identifier as the starting point before reviewing related ATT&CK behavior. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupContainer behavior lookup
The affected technology mentions containers, so container-specific ATT&CK technique review may help. This is a Glexia inferred lookup path, not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, or CVE Program mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2019-10165 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- Low
- CVSS
- 2.3 (3.0)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
CVSS vector scores
1 official scoreWe collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N0.81.4Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.0 score
2.3LowVector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=CVE-2019-10165CVE reference · x_refsource_CONFIRM
- https://github.com/openshift/cluster-kube-apiserver-operator/pull/499/CVE reference · x_refsource_CONFIRM
- https://github.com/openshift/cluster-openshift-apiserver-operator/pull/205CVE reference · x_refsource_CONFIRM
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.
Insertion of Sensitive Information into Log File
Insertion of Sensitive Information into Log File represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.