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Fencer Vulns
medium 6.4

CVE-2019-11246 json

kubectl cp allows symlink directory traversal

published 2019-08-29 7 y ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also EUVD-2019-2942

cvss
6.4
version 3.0, CNA
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
3.6%
EPSS 3.6% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 89%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

The kubectl cp command allows copying files between containers and the user machine. To copy files from a container, Kubernetes runs tar inside the container to create a tar archive, copies it over the network, and kubectl unpacks it on the user’s machine. If the tar binary in the container is malicious, it could run any code and output unexpected, malicious results. An attacker could use this to write files to any path on the user’s machine when kubectl cp is called, limited only by the system permissions of the local user. Kubernetes affected versions include versions prior to 1.12.9, versions prior to 1.13.6, versions prior to 1.14.2, and versions 1.1, 1.2, 1.4, 1.4, 1.5, 1.6, 1.7, 1.8, 1.9, 1.10, 1.11.

Patch / fix

  • kubernetes kubernetes 1.13.9, 1.14.5, 1.15.2
  • atomic-openshift openshift 3.9 3.9.89-1.git.0.9454f2a.el7
  • atomic-openshift-pod openshift 3.9 3.9.89-1.git.0.9454f2a.el7
  • atomic-openshift-node openshift 3.9 3.9.89-1.git.0.9454f2a.el7
  • atomic-openshift-tests openshift 3.9 3.9.89-1.git.0.9454f2a.el7
  • atomic-openshift-master openshift 3.9 3.9.89-1.git.0.9454f2a.el7
  • atomic-openshift-clients openshift 3.9 3.9.89-1.git.0.9454f2a.el7
  • atomic-openshift-sdn-ovs openshift 3.9 3.9.89-1.git.0.9454f2a.el7
  • atomic-openshift-excluder openshift 3.9 3.9.89-1.git.0.9454f2a.el7

red hat advisories RHSA-2019:1852RHSA-2019:1633RHSA-2019:1632

Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2019-11246 updated cvss 5.3

kubernetes: Incomplete fix for CVE-2019-1002101 allows for arbitrary file write via `kubectl cp`

  • Red Hat Storage 3 heketi, heketi-client, python-heketi
    affected: no fix planned “Will not fix”
  • Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 3.9 atomic-openshift 3.9.89-1.git.0.9454f2a.el7, atomic-openshift-pod 3.9.89-1.git.0.9454f2a.el7, atomic-openshift-node 3.9.89-1.git.0.9454f2a.el7, atomic-openshift-tests 3.9.89-1.git.0.9454f2a.el7, atomic-openshift-master 3.9.89-1.git.0.9454f2a.el7, atomic-openshift-clients 3.9.89-1.git.0.9454f2a.el7, +8 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2019:1852
  • Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 3.10 atomic-openshift 3.10.149-1.git.0.05de590.el7, atomic-openshift-pod 3.10.149-1.git.0.05de590.el7, atomic-openshift-node 3.10.149-1.git.0.05de590.el7, atomic-openshift-tests 3.10.149-1.git.0.05de590.el7, atomic-openshift-master 3.10.149-1.git.0.05de590.el7, atomic-openshift-clients 3.10.149-1.git.0.05de590.el7, +7 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2019:1632
  • Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 3.11 atomic-openshift 3.11.117-1.git.0.14e54a3.el7, atomic-openshift-pod 3.11.117-1.git.0.14e54a3.el7, atomic-openshift-node 3.11.117-1.git.0.14e54a3.el7, atomic-openshift-tests 3.11.117-1.git.0.14e54a3.el7, atomic-openshift-master 3.11.117-1.git.0.14e54a3.el7, atomic-openshift-clients 3.11.117-1.git.0.14e54a3.el7, +7 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2019:1633
  • Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 3.6 atomic-openshift, atomic-openshift-pod, atomic-openshift-node, atomic-openshift-tests, atomic-openshift-master, atomic-openshift-clients, +9 more Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 3.7 atomic-openshift, atomic-openshift-pod, atomic-openshift-node, atomic-openshift-tests, atomic-openshift-master, atomic-openshift-clients, +10 more Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 openshift, openshift-clients, openshift-kubelet, openshift-hyperkube, openshift-kube-apiserver, openshift-kube-scheduler, +2 more
    not affected: vulnerable code not present

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

Exploit prediction

3.63% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 89% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
CNA 3.0 6.4 CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:H/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
NVD 3.1 6.5 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
NVD 2.0 4.3 AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:N/I:P/A:N

Affected products

  • Kubernetes Kubernetes

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-61 UNIX Symbolic Link (Symlink) Following
  • CWE-22 Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory
Technology feeds

References

Sources

Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.