CVE-2025-23391: Rancher: Restricted Administrator can change Administrator's passwords

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 0.5%, percentile 39: FIRST’s model estimates a 0.5% chance of exploitation activity in the next 30 days, higher than 39% of all scored CVEs (low). 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) >= 2.8.0, < 2.8.14, fixed in 2.8.14; github.com/rancher/rancher (Go) >= 2.9.0, < 2.9.8, fixed in 2.9.8; github.com/rancher/rancher (Go) >= 2.10.0, < 2.10.4, fixed in 2.10.4. Check your lockfile, including transitive dependencies.

What it is

A Incorrect Privilege Assignment vulnerability in SUSE rancher allows a Restricted Administrator to change the password of Administrators and take over their accounts. This issue affects rancher: from 2.8.0 before 2.8.14, from 2.9.0 before 2.9.8, from 2.10.0 before 2.10.4.

From the GitHub advisory

Impact A vulnerability has been identified within Rancher where a Restricted Administrator can change the password of Administrators and take over their accounts.

A Restricted Administrator should be not allowed to change the password of more privileged users unless it contains the Manage Users permissions.

Rancher deployments where the Restricted Administrator role is not being used are not affected by this CVE. Please consult the associated MITRE ATT&CK - Technique - Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism for further information about this category of attack.

Patches The fix introduces a few changes: 1. If the user has a manage-users verb, the user is allowed to edit/delete users. That way the Manage Users built in role will still be able to edit ALL users. 2. If the user doesn't have manage-users, just edit or delete, then there is a check to ensure that the User being edited only has rules equal to or less than the editor.

Patched versions include releases v2.8.14, v2.9.8, v2.10.4 and v2.11.0

Weakness type: CWE-266.

Product: github.com/rancher/rancher (Go) · Assigned by: suse · Published: 2025-04-11

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): 0.46% probability of exploitation activity in the next 30 days; percentile 39.

Timeline

• 2025-04-01 — GitHub-reviewed advisory GHSA-8p83-cpfg-fj3g published (critical)
• 2025-04-11 — 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-8p83-cpfg-fj3g github.com
2. CVE.org record CVE-2025-23391 cve.org
3. NVD entry CVE-2025-23391 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