CVE-2025-1974
📋 TL;DR
CVE-2025-1974 is a critical vulnerability in Kubernetes' ingress-nginx controller that allows unauthenticated attackers on the pod network to execute arbitrary code with the controller's privileges. This can lead to full cluster compromise by accessing all cluster-wide Secrets in default configurations. All Kubernetes deployments using vulnerable ingress-nginx versions are affected.
💻 Affected Systems
- Kubernetes ingress-nginx controller
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Complete cluster takeover: attacker gains control of ingress-nginx controller, accesses all Secrets, deploys malicious pods, and potentially pivots to other infrastructure.
Likely Case
Attacker compromises the ingress-nginx controller, steals sensitive Secrets (database credentials, API keys, certificates), and establishes persistence in the cluster.
If Mitigated
With network policies restricting pod-to-pod communication and least-privilege RBAC, impact limited to the controller's namespace and accessible resources.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploit code is publicly available on Exploit-DB (ID 52475) and GitHub. Attack requires network access to the pod where ingress-nginx runs.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: Check Kubernetes security advisories for specific patched versions
Vendor Advisory: https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/issues/131009
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Update ingress-nginx controller to patched version. 2. Update Kubernetes cluster if required. 3. Restart ingress-nginx controller pods. 4. Verify controller is running patched version.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Apply Network Policies
allRestrict pod-to-pod communication to prevent unauthorized access to ingress-nginx controller pods
kubectl apply -f network-policy.yaml
Restrict RBAC Permissions
allLimit ingress-nginx controller's Secret access to only required namespaces instead of cluster-wide
kubectl edit clusterrole ingress-nginx
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement strict network segmentation and pod security policies to isolate ingress-nginx controller
- Monitor ingress-nginx controller logs and network traffic for suspicious activity
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check ingress-nginx controller version and verify if it's in affected range. Review network policies for pod isolation.Check Version:
kubectl describe pod -n ingress-nginx | grep ImageVerify Fix Applied:
Confirm ingress-nginx controller is updated to patched version and test that unauthorized pod network access is blocked.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unusual ingress-nginx controller pod restarts
- Suspicious commands executed in controller pods
- Unexpected Secret access patterns
Network Indicators:
- Unusual network connections to ingress-nginx controller pods from unauthorized sources
- Suspicious outbound traffic from controller pods
SIEM Query:
source="kubernetes" AND ("ingress-nginx" OR "nginx-ingress") AND ("exec" OR "shell" OR "unauthorized access")