CVE-2024-22036: Rancher Remote Code Execution via Cluster/Node Drivers

Should you act?

Critical, preconditions apply

Severe if exploited, but exploitation needs conditions that may not apply to you. This signal is computed from CISA KEV, EPSS and CVSS data; it is not an editorial verdict.

• No confirmed exploitation. It is not in CISA’s KEV catalog and CISA’s SSVC assessment records no known exploitation. That can change quickly after a public write-up; re-check if you are affected.
• EPSS 0.8%, percentile 56: FIRST’s model estimates a 0.8% chance of exploitation activity in the next 30 days, higher than 56% of all scored CVEs (moderate). EPSS is a probability, not a verdict.
• Needs an account (high (admin)). Exposure depends on who can log in.
• Only applies if your dependency tree includes github.com/rancher/rancher (Go) >= 2.7.0, < 2.7.16, fixed in 2.7.16; github.com/rancher/rancher (Go) >= 2.8.0, < 2.8.9, fixed in 2.8.9; github.com/rancher/rancher (Go) >= 2.9.0, < 2.9.3, fixed in 2.9.3. Check your lockfile, including transitive dependencies.

What it is

A vulnerability has been identified within Rancher where a cluster or node driver can be used to escape the chroot jail and gain root access to the Rancher container itself. In production environments, further privilege escalation is possible based on living off the land within the Rancher container itself. For the test and development environments, based on a –privileged Docker container, it is possible to escape the Docker container and gain execution access on the host system. This issue affects rancher: from 2.7.0 before 2.7.16, from 2.8.0 before 2.8.9, from 2.9.0 before 2.9.3.

From the GitHub advisory

Impact A vulnerability has been identified within Rancher where a cluster or node driver can be used to escape the chroot jail and gain root access to the Rancher container itself. In production environments, further privilege escalation is possible based on living off the land within the Rancher container itself. For the test and development environments, based on a –privileged Docker container, it is possible to escape the Docker container and gain execution access on the host system.

This happens because: - During startup, Rancher appends the /opt/drivers/management-state/bin directory to the PATH environment variable. - In Rancher, the binaries /usr/bin/rancher-machine, /usr/bin/helmv3, and /usr/bin/kustomize are assigned a UID of 1001 and a GID of 127 instead of being owned by the root user. - Rancher employs a jail mechanism to isolate the execution of node drivers from the main process. However, the drivers are executed with excessive permissions. - During the registration of new node drivers, its binary is executed with the same user as the parent process, which could enable an attacker to gain elevated privileges by registering a malicious driver. - Lack of validation on the driver file type, which allows symbolic links to be used.

Please consult the associated MITRE ATT&CK - Technique - Privilege Escalation and MITRE ATT&CK - Technique - Execution for further information about this category of attack.

Since they run at a privileged level, it is recommended to use trusted drivers only.

Patches The fix involves some key areas with the following changes:

Weakness type: CWE-269.

Product: github.com/rancher/rancher (Go) · Assigned by: suse · Published: 2025-04-16

Affected and fixed versions

Severity scores

• Attack vector: network (remotely reachable)
• Attack complexity: low
• Privileges required: high (admin)
• User interaction: none
• Scope: changed (can affect other components)

CVSS measures how bad a flaw is if exploited, not how likely exploitation is. Read it next to the exploitation data below.

Exploitation and urgency

• CISA KEV: not listed (no confirmed in-the-wild exploitation known to CISA).
• CISA SSVC assessment: exploitation none, automatable no, technical impact total.
• FIRST EPSS (model of 2026-10-21): 0.80% probability of exploitation activity in the next 30 days; percentile 56.

Timeline

• 2024-10-25 — GitHub-reviewed advisory GHSA-h99m-6755-rgwc published (critical)
• 2025-04-16 — CVE record published by suse
• 2026-02-26 — CVE record last updated

Sources and references

Original sources first. Version and fix details should always be confirmed against the vendor or project advisory.

Vulnerability records

1. GitHub Advisory GHSA-h99m-6755-rgwc github.com
2. CVE.org record CVE-2024-22036 cve.org
3. NVD entry CVE-2024-22036 nvd.nist.gov

Other references from the CVE record and advisory

1. bugzilla.suse.com bugzilla.suse.com
2. github.com github.com

Critical Go advisories · Today’s Security Digest