Security Resilience

CVE-2023-41332

Cilium ≤ 1.12.14

Public PoC
Published
27 September 2023
Modified
21 November 2024
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 3.5
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
EPSS Score 0.0051 42th percentile
Risk Priority 32 floored blend · peak EPSS

CVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.

Summary

CVE-2023-41332 is a low-severity Improper Handling of Exceptional Conditions (CWE-755) vulnerability in Cilium Cilium. Its CVSS base score is 3.5 (Low).

Operationally, ranked at the 42th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Cilium is a networking, observability, and security solution with an eBPF-based dataplane. In Cilium clusters where Cilium's Layer 7 proxy has been disabled, creating workloads with `policy.cilium.io/proxy-visibility` annotations (in Cilium >= v1.13) or `io.cilium.proxy-visibility` annotations (in Cilium <= v1.12) causes…

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the Cilium agent to segfault on the node to which the workload is assigned. Existing traffic on the affected node will continue to flow, but the Cilium agent on the node will not able to process changes to workloads running on the node. This will also prevent workloads from being able to start on the affected node. The denial of service will be limited to the node on which the workload is scheduled, however an attacker may be able to schedule workloads on the node of their choosing, which could lead to targeted attacks. This issue has been resolved in Cilium versions 1.14.2, 1.13.7, and 1.12.14. Users unable to upgrade can avoid this denial of service attack by enabling the Layer 7 proxy.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-27595Same product: Cilium Cilium
CVE-2024-52529Same product: Cilium Cilium
CVE-2024-28248Same product: Cilium Cilium
CVE-2023-29002Same product: Cilium Cilium
CVE-2025-64715Same product: Cilium Cilium
CVE-2024-28860Same product: Cilium Cilium
CVE-2026-41520Same product: Cilium Cilium
CVE-2025-32793Same product: Cilium Cilium
CVE-2026-33726Same product: Cilium Cilium
CVE-2026-56742Same product: Cilium Cilium

Affected Assets

cilium
cilium
≤ 1.12.14 · 1.13.0 — 1.13.7 · 1.14.0 — 1.14.2

Mitigating Controls

Likely Mitigating Controls AI

Per-CVE control mapping for this CVE has not run yet; the list below is derived from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry.

addresses: CWE-755

Provides defined handling (alert and additional actions) for the exceptional condition of audit logging failure.

addresses: CWE-755

Supplies a concrete handling action (safe mode) for exceptional conditions, mitigating risks from improper or absent handling that could allow continued attacks.

addresses: CWE-755

By preparing users for contingency scenarios, the control promotes proper handling of exceptional conditions instead of default or unsafe behaviors.

addresses: CWE-755

An updated contingency plan defines current actions for exceptional conditions, reducing the window for attackers to exploit improper handling leading to system failure.

addresses: CWE-755

Procedures ensure proper handling of exceptional conditions to support effective incident response.

addresses: CWE-755

Incident response testing confirms proper handling of exceptional conditions to limit exploit impact.

addresses: CWE-755

Gives users guidance on incident handling, reducing improper handling of exceptional conditions that could stem from exploited weaknesses.

addresses: CWE-755

Enforces structured response to exceptional conditions so the system cannot remain in an unsafe state.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

degrades

Documented operating procedures may specify exception handling but do not guarantee implementation.

A.8.15 Logging partial match
finds

Logging captures unhandled exceptions, aiding detection but not preventing the weakness.

finds

Monitoring can surface unhandled exceptions but does not enforce proper handling.

blocks

Secure SDLC mandates exception-handling requirements and testing that directly prevent improper handling of exceptional conditions.

blocks

A.8.26 explicitly lists resilience against malicious attacks including SQL injections, input validation, error message handling, and several integrity/authorization requirements that address exceptional conditions in a minority of cases, but most CWE-755 instances (e.g. unhandled nulls, resource errors, unexpected states) fall outside its named topics.

blocks

A.8.27 mandates security-by-design principles (fail securely, least privilege, defense-in-depth, distrust external input, assume-breach) plus design reviews that can catch and stop many but not all mishandlings of exceptional conditions before they reach production code; a bounded remainder (e.g. subtle runtime error paths, library-level faults, or post-review regressions) can still be present and exploitable.

Hardening callouts derived

DISA STIG baselines are authored against specific weaknesses. Where this CVE cites a broad weakness class, the mapping is not asserted at that abstraction (owner ruling, 2026-09-25: grade only at Base and below), so no rule is shown here rather than a rule shown against the wrong grain.

  • No fine-grained STIG row for CWE-755, a class-level weakness. Rules are authored against its narrower children: CWE-274, CWE-280, CWE-333.

References