CVE-2023-23939

high

Description

Azure/setup-kubectl is a GitHub Action for installing Kubectl. This vulnerability only impacts versions before version 3. An insecure temporary creation of a file allows other actors on the Actions runner to replace the Kubectl binary created by this action because it is world writable. This Kubectl tool installer runs `fs.chmodSync(kubectlPath, 777)` to set permissions on the Kubectl binary, however, this allows any local user to replace the Kubectl binary. This allows privilege escalation to the user that can also run kubectl, most likely root. This attack is only possible if an attacker somehow breached the GitHub actions runner or if a user is utilizing an Action that maliciously executes this attack. This has been fixed and released in all versions `v3` and later. 775 permissions are used instead. Users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this issue.

References

https://github.com/Azure/setup-kubectl/security/advisories/GHSA-p756-rfxh-x63h

https://github.com/Azure/setup-kubectl/commit/d449d75495d2b9d1463555bb00ca3dca77a42ab6

Details

Source: Mitre, NVD

Published: 2023-03-06

Updated: 2026-06-17

Risk Information

CVSS v2

Base Score: 6

Vector: CVSS2#AV:L/AC:H/Au:S/C:C/I:C/A:C

Severity: Medium

CVSS v3

Base Score: 7

Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Severity: High

EPSS

EPSS: 0.00199