CVE-2025-30163

Workarounds

Users can work around this issue by ensuring that the labels used in fromNodes and toNodes fields are used exclusively by nodes and not by other endpoints.

Acknowledgements

The Cilium community has worked together with members of Isovalent to prepare these mitigations. Special thanks to @oblazek for reporting and fixing this issue.

For more information

If you think you have found a vulnerability affecting Cilium, we strongly encourage you to report it to our security mailing list at [email protected]. This is a private mailing list for the Cilium security team, and your report will be treated as top priority. Please also address any comments or questions on this advisory to the same mailing list.

Node based network policies (fromNodes and toNodes) will incorrectly permit traffic to/from non-node endpoints that share the labels specified in fromNodes and toNodes sections of network policies. Node based network policy is disabled by default in Cilium.

The application does not correctly enforce access controls, allowing a principal to access resources or operations beyond their granted permissions. Typical impact: unauthorized data access or execution of privileged operations.

CVE-2025-30163 has a CVSS score of 3.4 (Low). The vector is reachable from an adjacent network, no 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 (1.16.8, 1.17.2); upgrading removes the vulnerable code path.

Kodem intelligence

This issue was fixed by https://github.com/cilium/cilium/pull/36657.

This issue affects:

• Cilium v1.16 between v1.16.0 and v1.16.7 inclusive
• Cilium v1.17 between v1.17.0 and v1.17.1 inclusive

This issue is fixed in:

• Cilium v1.16.8
• Cilium v1.17.2

1. What is CVE-2025-30163? CVE-2025-30163 is a low-severity incorrect authorization vulnerability in github.com/cilium/cilium (go), affecting versions >= 1.16.0, < 1.16.8. It is fixed in 1.16.8, 1.17.2. The application does not correctly enforce access controls, allowing a principal to access resources or operations beyond their granted permissions.
2. How severe is CVE-2025-30163? CVE-2025-30163 has a CVSS score of 3.4 (Low). 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.
3. Which versions of github.com/cilium/cilium are affected by CVE-2025-30163? github.com/cilium/cilium (go) versions >= 1.16.0, < 1.16.8 is affected.
4. Is there a fix for CVE-2025-30163? Yes. CVE-2025-30163 is fixed in 1.16.8, 1.17.2. Upgrade to this version or later.
5. Is CVE-2025-30163 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2025-30163 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
6. What actually determines whether CVE-2025-30163 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.
7. How do I fix CVE-2025-30163?
   • Upgrade github.com/cilium/cilium to 1.16.8 or later
   • Upgrade github.com/cilium/cilium to 1.17.2 or later