CVE-2025-62879
📋 TL;DR
CVE-2025-62879 is a sensitive information disclosure vulnerability in Rancher Backup Operator where S3 access tokens (accessKey and secretKey) are leaked into pod logs. This affects organizations using Rancher Backup Operator with S3 storage for backups. Attackers with access to pod logs could obtain credentials to compromise S3 storage.
💻 Affected Systems
- Rancher Backup Operator
📦 What is this software?
Rancher Backup And Restore Operator by Suse
View all CVEs affecting Rancher Backup And Restore Operator →
Rancher Backup And Restore Operator by Suse
View all CVEs affecting Rancher Backup And Restore Operator →
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Attackers obtain S3 credentials and exfiltrate, modify, or delete all backup data stored in S3 buckets, potentially causing data loss and operational disruption.
Likely Case
Internal users or attackers with pod log access discover credentials and use them to access backup data, potentially exposing sensitive information.
If Mitigated
With proper log access controls and monitoring, credential exposure is detected quickly and credentials are rotated before exploitation.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires access to rancher-backup-operator pod logs, which typically requires cluster-level permissions or compromised accounts.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: Check vendor advisory for specific fixed version
Vendor Advisory: https://bugzilla.suse.com/show_bug.cgi?id=CVE-2025-62879
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Check current Rancher Backup Operator version. 2. Update to the patched version via Rancher UI or CLI. 3. Restart rancher-backup-operator pods. 4. Rotate all S3 credentials that may have been exposed in logs.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Restrict Pod Log Access
linuxImplement strict RBAC controls to limit access to rancher-backup-operator pod logs
kubectl create role restricted-log-viewer --verb=get,list --resource=pods/log --namespace=<namespace>
kubectl create rolebinding restrict-logs --role=restricted-log-viewer --user=<user> --namespace=<namespace>
Enable Log Redaction
allConfigure log aggregation systems to redact sensitive patterns matching S3 credential formats
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Immediately rotate all S3 access keys and secret keys used by Rancher Backup Operator
- Implement strict access controls on pod logs and monitor for unauthorized access attempts
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check rancher-backup-operator pod logs for S3 credential patterns: kubectl logs deployment/rancher-backup-operator -n cattle-resources-system | grep -i 'accesskey\|secretkey\|s3'Check Version:
kubectl get deployment rancher-backup-operator -n cattle-resources-system -o jsonpath='{.spec.template.spec.containers[0].image}'Verify Fix Applied:
After patching, verify logs no longer contain S3 credentials and check operator version matches patched release📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- S3 accessKey or secretKey strings appearing in rancher-backup-operator pod logs
- Unauthorized access attempts to pod logs
Network Indicators:
- Unexpected S3 API calls from non-backup sources
- S3 credential usage from unexpected IP addresses
SIEM Query:
source="k8s-pod-logs" pod_name="rancher-backup-operator*" (accessKey OR secretKey OR "AKIA" OR "ASIA")