What is CVE-2024-43803?

CVE-2024-43803 is a medium-severity security vulnerability in github.com/metal3-io/baremetal-operator (go), affecting versions >= 0.7.0-rc.0, < 0.8.0. It is fixed in 0.8.0, 0.6.2, 0.5.2.

How severe is CVE-2024-43803?

CVE-2024-43803 has a CVSS score of 4.9 (Medium). This score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether it represents real risk in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable.

Which versions of github.com/metal3-io/baremetal-operator are affected by CVE-2024-43803?

github.com/metal3-io/baremetal-operator (go) versions >= 0.7.0-rc.0, < 0.8.0 is affected.

Is there a fix for CVE-2024-43803?

Yes. CVE-2024-43803 is fixed in 0.8.0, 0.6.2, 0.5.2. Upgrade to this version or later.

Is CVE-2024-43803 exploitable, and should I be worried?

Whether CVE-2024-43803 is exploitable in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable. A CVSS score is a worst-case rating; it does not account for your specific deployment, configuration, or usage patterns. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to show which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so you can focus on the ones that represent real risk.

What actually determines whether CVE-2024-43803 is exploitable, and how bad it is?

Exploitability and impact are not fixed properties of a CVE. They depend on runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A high CVSS score on a dependency that never runs is not the same as real risk. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter.

How do I fix CVE-2024-43803?

Upgrade: github.com/metal3-io/baremetal-operator to 0.8.0 or later, github.com/metal3-io/baremetal-operator to 0.6.2 or later, github.com/metal3-io/baremetal-operator to 0.5.2 or later.

CVE-2024-43803

Q: How severe is CVE-2024-43803?

CVE-2024-43803 has a CVSS score of 4.9 (Medium). This score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether it represents real risk in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable.

Q: Which versions of github.com/metal3-io/baremetal-operator are affected by CVE-2024-43803?

github.com/metal3-io/baremetal-operator (go) versions >= 0.7.0-rc.0, < 0.8.0 is affected.

Q: Is there a fix for CVE-2024-43803?

Yes. CVE-2024-43803 is fixed in 0.8.0, 0.6.2, 0.5.2. Upgrade to this version or later.

Q: Is CVE-2024-43803 exploitable, and should I be worried?

Whether CVE-2024-43803 is exploitable in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable. A CVSS score is a worst-case rating; it does not account for your specific deployment, configuration, or usage patterns. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to show which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so you can focus on the ones that represent real risk.

Q: What actually determines whether CVE-2024-43803 is exploitable, and how bad it is?

Exploitability and impact are not fixed properties of a CVE. They depend on runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A high CVSS score on a dependency that never runs is not the same as real risk. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter.

Q: How do I fix CVE-2024-43803?

Upgrade: github.com/metal3-io/baremetal-operator to 0.8.0 or later, github.com/metal3-io/baremetal-operator to 0.6.2 or later, github.com/metal3-io/baremetal-operator to 0.5.2 or later.

Summary

The Bare Metal Operator (BMO) can expose particularly named secrets from other namespaces via BMH CRD

Limiting factors

BMO will only read a key with the name value (or userData, metaData, or networkData), so that limits the exposure somewhat. value is probably a pretty common key though. Secrets used by other BareMetalHosts in different namespaces are always vulnerable.

It is probably relatively unusual for anyone other than cluster administrators to have RBAC access to create/edit a BareMetalHost. This vulnerability is only meaningful, if the cluster has users other than administrators and users' privileges are limited to their respective namespaces.

Workarounds

Operator can configure BMO RBAC to be namespace scoped for Secrets, instead of cluster scoped, to prevent BMO from accessing Secrets from other namespaces.

References

Impact

The Bare Metal Operator (BMO) implements a Kubernetes API for managing bare metal hosts in Metal3. The BareMetalHost (BMH) CRD allows the userData, metaData, and networkData for the provisioned host to be specified as links to Kubernetes Secrets. There are fields for both the Name and Namespace of the Secret, meaning that the baremetal-operator will read a Secret from any namespace. A user with access to create or edit a BareMetalHost can thus exfiltrate a Secret from another namespace by using it as e.g. the userData for provisioning some host (note that this need not be a real host, it could be a VM somewhere).

CVE-2024-43803 has a CVSS score of 4.9 (Medium). The vector is network-reachable, high privileges required, and no user interaction. A CVSS score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether this affects your application depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable in your environment. A fixed version is available (0.8.0, 0.6.2, 0.5.2); upgrading removes the vulnerable code path.

Affected versions

github.com/metal3-io/baremetal-operator (>= 0.7.0-rc.0, < 0.8.0) github.com/metal3-io/baremetal-operator (>= 0.6.0, < 0.6.2) github.com/metal3-io/baremetal-operator (< 0.5.2)

Security releases

github.com/metal3-io/baremetal-operator → 0.8.0 (go) github.com/metal3-io/baremetal-operator → 0.6.2 (go) github.com/metal3-io/baremetal-operator → 0.5.2 (go)

Kodem intelligence

Severity tells you how bad this could be in the worst case. It does not tell you whether you are exposed. Exploitability and impact are functions of runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A vulnerable package can sit in your dependency tree and never run.

Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter. Kodem's runtime-powered SCA identifies whether this CVE is reachable in your applications.

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Remediation advice

The patch prevents BMO from accepting links to Secrets from other namespaces as BMH input. Any BMH configuration is only read from the same namespace only.

The problem is patched in BMO releases v0.8.0, v0.6.2 and v0.5.2 and users should upgrade to those versions. Prior upgrading and if needed, duplicate the BMC Secrets to the namespace where the corresponding BMH is. After upgrade, remove the old Secrets.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2024-43803? CVE-2024-43803 is a medium-severity security vulnerability in github.com/metal3-io/baremetal-operator (go), affecting versions >= 0.7.0-rc.0, < 0.8.0. It is fixed in 0.8.0, 0.6.2, 0.5.2.
How severe is CVE-2024-43803? CVE-2024-43803 has a CVSS score of 4.9 (Medium). This score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether it represents real risk in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable.
Which versions of github.com/metal3-io/baremetal-operator are affected by CVE-2024-43803? github.com/metal3-io/baremetal-operator (go) versions >= 0.7.0-rc.0, < 0.8.0 is affected.
Is there a fix for CVE-2024-43803? Yes. CVE-2024-43803 is fixed in 0.8.0, 0.6.2, 0.5.2. Upgrade to this version or later.
Is CVE-2024-43803 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2024-43803 is exploitable in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable. A CVSS score is a worst-case rating; it does not account for your specific deployment, configuration, or usage patterns. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to show which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so you can focus on the ones that represent real risk. Get a demo
What actually determines whether CVE-2024-43803 is exploitable, and how bad it is? Exploitability and impact are not fixed properties of a CVE. They depend on runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A high CVSS score on a dependency that never runs is not the same as real risk. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter.
How do I fix CVE-2024-43803?
- Upgrade github.com/metal3-io/baremetal-operator to 0.8.0 or later
- Upgrade github.com/metal3-io/baremetal-operator to 0.6.2 or later
- Upgrade github.com/metal3-io/baremetal-operator to 0.5.2 or later

Other vulnerabilities in github.com/metal3-io/baremetal-operator

CVE-IDSeverityPackage summary

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