Public proof of conceptFix available

CVE-2023-2728

Q: Is CVE-2023-2728 actively exploited?

Active exploitation of CVE-2023-2728 has not been confirmed. Its EPSS score was 2.2% on 2026-10-23, the estimated probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.

Q: What is the CVSS score for CVE-2023-2728?

CVE-2023-2728 has a CVSS v3 base score of 6.5 (MEDIUM severity), with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N.

A public proof of concept exists; no exploitation attested.

Published2023-07-03
Fixed in1.27.3 · 1.26.6 · 1.25.11 · 1.24.15
WeaknessCWE-20

Am I affected?

With a domain, we read the version its public headers and pages expose. A distribution build can carry the fix under an older number.

Description

Users may be able to launch containers that bypass the mountable secrets policy enforced by the ServiceAccount admission plugin when using ephemeral containers. The policy ensures pods running with a service account may only reference secrets specified in the service account’s secrets field. Kubernetes clusters are only affected if the ServiceAccount admission plugin and the `kubernetes.io/enforce-mountable-secrets` annotation are used together with ephemeral containers.

Timeline

dates in UTC

2023-07-0321:15CVE publishedNVD
2026-10-2319:23First public proof of conceptPoC-in-GitHub

Observed activity

isMalicious corpus · updated 2026-10-23 21:37 UTC

Indicators tagged with this CVE, per day0 indicators over 7 days

Block these indicators

Firewall list (EDL, text): https://api.ismalicious.com/edl/cve/CVE-2023-2728?format=txt
CSV export: https://api.ismalicious.com/edl/cve/CVE-2023-2728?format=csv
TAXII collection of exploited CVEs
The EDL and CSV take an API key on the Pro plan.

Versions per branch

OSV · NVD

k8s.io/kubernetes

Branch	Affected	Fixed in	Source
1.27	≥ 1.27.0, < 1.27.3	1.27.3	OSV
1.26	≥ 1.26.0, < 1.26.6	1.26.6	OSV
1.25	≥ 1.25.0, < 1.25.11	1.25.11	OSV
1.24	< 1.24.15	1.24.15	OSV

Kubernetes

Branch	Affected	Fixed in	Source
1.24	≤ 1.24.14	no fix published	NVD
1.25	≥ 1.25.0, ≤ 1.25.10	no fix published	NVD
1.26	≥ 1.26.0, ≤ 1.26.5	no fix published	NVD
1.27	≥ 1.27.0, ≤ 1.27.2	no fix published	NVD

as publishedRanges as NVD and OSV publish them; a distribution’s build can be fixed under an older number.

Distribution builds and vendor advisories

Packages from OSV.dev and products from the vendors' CSAF advisories.

version not verifiedVersions not verified: read as OSV.dev and the vendors publish them, not checked against each vendor's release list.

Vendor advisories

RHSA-2023:5009 Red Hat Product Security1,028 products fixed
Red Hat Security Advisory: OpenShift Container Platform 4.14.0 security update

Full record on NVD

Fix

Update k8s.io/kubernetes to 1.27.3 · 1.26.6 · 1.25.11 · 1.24.15
Vendor fix Red Hat Product Security RHSA-2023:5009 · 1,028 productsFor OpenShift Container Platform 4.14 see the following documentation, which will be updated shortly for this release, for important instructions on how to upgrade your cluster and fully apply this asynchronous errata update: https://docs.openshift.com/container-platform/4.14/release_notes/ocp-4-1…
Workaround from the vendor Red Hat Product Security RHSA-2023:5009 · 1,028 productsThis issue can be mitigated by applying the patch provided for the kube-apiserver component. The patch prevents ephemeral containers from bypassing the mountable secrets policy enforced by the ServiceAccount admission plugin.

Detection

read 2026-10-23 19:23 UTC

Nuclei template: none so far
Exploit-DB: no entry
Proof-of-concept repositories: 1 repository, unverifiedCgv-Dev/Metasploit-Module-TFM

Sources

CISA-ADPSSVC decisionnone2024-11-25
OpenCVESSVC decisionnone—
CNACVSS 3.16.5read 2026-10-23
NVDCVSS 3.16.5read 2026-10-23
CNAweakness (CWE)CWE-20read 2026-10-23
FIRST EPSSEPSS score2.2 %2026-10-23
PoC-in-GitHubproof of concept1read 2026-10-23
OSVaffected packages—

Technical details

CVSS v3 Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N
Published: 2023-07-03
Last Modified: 2026-06-17
NVD status: Modified

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2023-2728?

Is CVE-2023-2728 actively exploited?

Active exploitation of CVE-2023-2728 has not been confirmed. Its EPSS score was 2.2% on 2026-10-23, the estimated probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2023-2728?

CVE-2023-2728 has a CVSS v3 base score of 6.5 (MEDIUM severity), with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N.

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