Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
CVE-2024-3154 lets a highly privileged Kubernetes user abuse a Pod annotation to influence systemd on a node running a vulnerable CRI-O package. Successful exploitation could allow actions on the host, threatening confidentiality, integrity, and availability of workloads and the underlying node.
Executive priority
Prioritize affected shared or multi-tenant clusters and environments with broadly delegated Pod creation. Treat remediation as high priority because compromise can affect host systems, while recognizing that the required high privileges reduce exposure compared with an unauthenticated flaw. Investigate immediately if untrusted identities hold the necessary permissions.
Technical view
CRI-O insufficiently validates a Pod annotation, permitting injection of an arbitrary systemd property. The issue is classified as CWE-77 command injection and scored CVSS 3.1 7.2. Exploitation is network-accessible but requires high privileges: the attacker must be able to create a Pod with an arbitrary annotation. No user interaction is required.
Likely exposure
The bundle identifies affected CRI-O builds in Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.12 through 4.15; OpenShift 3.11 is marked unaffected. The separately listed upstream CRI-O versions are also marked unaffected. Confirm installed package builds against Red Hat advisories because the bundle does not establish the status of every release or downstream distribution.
Exploitation context
Successful abuse can cross the container boundary and affect the host, but it requires permission to create Pods with arbitrary annotations. KEV is false, and the supplied sources do not establish active exploitation in the wild. Risk is highest where tenants, developers, automation, or compromised service accounts have broad Pod-creation permissions.
Researcher notes
The key boundary is authorization: annotation control alone is insufficient unless the actor can create a Pod. The bundle marks specific Red Hat builds affected but listed upstream CRI-O versions unaffected, so avoid generalizing version status. The supplied material names vendor advisories but does not provide fixed-build details or evidence of public exploitation.
Mitigation direction
- Apply the appropriate Red Hat security advisory updates for affected OpenShift releases.
- Compare installed CRI-O package builds with current vendor guidance before declaring remediation complete.
- Restrict Pod creation and arbitrary annotations to trusted identities and tightly controlled automation.
- Review and reduce service-account, developer, and tenant permissions capable of creating Pods.
Validation and detection
- Inventory OpenShift versions and CRI-O package builds across every cluster node.
- Match discovered builds against the affected entries and applicable Red Hat advisories.
- Audit RBAC for identities allowed to create Pods or supply arbitrary annotations.
- Review Pod-creation audit records for unexpected annotations or use by untrusted identities.
- Confirm patched nodes were updated consistently and returned to the expected operating state.
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-77: Command execution behavior lookup
Command injection weaknesses can lead defenders to review execution techniques and command interpreter telemetry. 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 lookupExecution behavior lookup
The CVE wording references code or command execution, so execution technique review may help defensive triage. This is a Glexia inferred lookup path, not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, or CVE Program 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-2024-3154 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
- High
- CVSS
- 7.2 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
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.
SSVC decision data
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:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H1.25.9redhatVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
7.2HighVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Vulnerability timeline
Timeline events are normalized from CVE metadata, CNA source timelines, ADP timelines, and KEV metadata when present.
- Source timelineredhat
Reported to Red Hat.
- CVE reservedCVE Program
The CVE ID was reserved by the assigning CNA.
- Source timelineredhat
Made public.
- CVE publishedCVE Program
The CVE record was published.
- CVE updatedCVE Program
The CVE record metadata indicates this as the latest update time.
ADP provider summaries
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- RHSA-2024:2669CVE reference, redhat · vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
- RHSA-2024:2672CVE reference, redhat · vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
- RHSA-2024:2784CVE reference, redhat · vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
- RHSA-2024:3496CVE reference, redhat · vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
- https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2024-3154CVE reference, redhat · vdb-entry, x_refsource_REDHAT
- RHBZ#2272532CVE reference, redhat · issue-tracking, x_refsource_REDHAT
- https://github.com/cri-o/cri-o/security/advisories/GHSA-2cgq-h8xw-2v5jCVE reference, redhat
- https://github.com/opencontainers/runc/pull/4217CVE reference, redhat
- https://github.com/opencontainers/runtime-spec/blob/main/features.md#unsafe-annotations-in-configjsonCVE reference, redhat
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.
Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in a Command ('Command Injection')
Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in a Command ('Command Injection') represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.