Description
KubeVirt is a virtual machine management add-on for Kubernetes. Versions 1.5.3 and below, and 1.6.0 contained a flawed implementation of the Kubernetes aggregation layer's authentication flow which could enable bypass of RBAC controls. It was discovered that the virt-api component fails to correctly authenticate the client when receiving API requests over mTLS. In particular, it fails to validate the CN (Common Name) field in the received client TLS certificates against the set of allowed values defined in the extension-apiserver-authentication configmap. Failre to validate certain fields in the client TLS certificate may allow an attacker to bypass existing RBAC controls by directly communicating with the aggregated API server, impersonating the Kubernetes API server and its aggregator component. This issue is fixed in versions 1.5.3 and 1.6.1.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|---|
| kubevirt | kubevirt | < 1.5.3, >= 1.6.0, < 1.6.1 | — |
Fixed in Linux distributions
Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.
SUSE
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| SLES 15 SP7 | kubevirt | 1.6.3-150700.3.13.1 | SUSE-SU-2025:4330-1 |
openSUSE
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| openSUSE Leap 16.0 | govulncheck-vulndb | 0.0.20260723T184607-160000.1.1 | openSUSE-SU-2026:21483-1 |
Azure Linux
| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Azure Linux 3 | kubevirt | 1.5.3-2 | — |
| Azure Linux 2 (CBL-Mariner) | kubevirt | 0.59.0-33 | — |
Wolfi
| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wolfi rolling | docker-machine-driver-harvester | 1.0.6-r4 | — |
Affected packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Affected | Fixed | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Go | kubevirt.io/kubevirt | < 1.5.3 | 1.5.3 | GHSA-38jw-g2qx-4286 |
| Go | kubevirt.io/kubevirt | >= 1.6.0-alpha.0, < 1.6.1 | 1.6.1 | GHSA-38jw-g2qx-4286 |
| Go | kubevirt.io/kubevirt | >= 1.7.0-alpha.0, < 1.7.0-rc.0 | 1.7.0-rc.0 | GHSA-38jw-g2qx-4286 |
| Go | kubevirt.io/kubevirt | < 1.5.3 · >= 1.6.0-alpha.0, < 1.6.0-beta.0.0.20250730135146-231dc69723f3 · >= 1.6.0-rc.0, < 1.6.1 · >= 1.6.2, < 1.7.0-rc.0 | 1.5.3, 1.6.0-beta.0.0.20250730135146-231dc69723f3, 1.6.1, 1.7.0-rc.0 | GO-2025-4103 |
Advisories 3
- openSUSE-SU-2026:21483-1 Security update for govulncheck-vulndb SUSE / openSUSE Security Updates · Jul 31, 2026
- WID-SEC-2025-2563 Microsoft Azure Linux: Mehrere Schwachstellen BSI CERT-Bund (WID) · May 11, 2026
- SUSE-SU-2025:4330-1 Security update for kubevirt, virt-api-container, virt-controller-container, virt-exportproxy-container, virt-exportserver-container, virt-handler-container, virt-launcher-container, virt-libguestfs-tools-container, virt-operator-container, virt-pr-helper-container SUSE / openSUSE Security Updates · Mar 23, 2026
References
- https://github.com/kubevirt/kubevirt/security/advisories/GHSA-38jw-g2qx-4286
- https://github.com/kubevirt/kubevirt/commit/231dc69723f331dc02f65a31ab4c3d6869f40d6a
- https://github.com/kubevirt/kubevirt/commit/af2f08a9a186eccc650f87c30ab3e07b669e8b5b
- https://github.com/kubevirt/kubevirt/commit/b9773bc588e6e18ece896a2dad5336ef7a653074