Cyber Resilience

CVE-2024-9594

Medium

Published: 15 October 2024

Published
15 October 2024
Modified
08 December 2025
KEV Added
Patch
CVSS Score v3.1 6.3 CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:H/PR:H/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0265 86.1th percentile
Risk Priority 14 60% EPSS · 20% KEV · 20% CVSS

Summary

CVE-2024-9594 is a medium-severity Use of Hard-coded Credentials (CWE-798) vulnerability in Kubernetes-Sigs Image Builder. Its CVSS base score is 6.3 (Medium).

Operationally, ranked in the top 13.9% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability details

A security issue was discovered in the Kubernetes Image Builder versions <= v0.1.37 where default credentials are enabled during the image build process when using the Nutanix, OVA, QEMU or raw providers. The credentials can be used to gain root…

more

access. The credentials are disabled at the conclusion of the image build process. Kubernetes clusters are only affected if their nodes use VM images created via the Image Builder project. Because these images were vulnerable during the image build process, they are affected only if an attacker was able to reach the VM where the image build was happening and used the vulnerability to modify the image at the time the image build was occurring.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

No named actor attribution yet. ATT&CK technique mapping in progress for this CVE.

Affected Assets

kubernetes-sigs
image builder
≤ 0.1.38

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-798

Enables users to notice when hard-coded credentials have been exploited for unauthorized access.

addresses: CWE-798

Security training explicitly warns against hard-coded credentials, lowering their use in systems.

addresses: CWE-798

Policy and procedures prohibit hard-coded credentials in favor of managed authentication.

addresses: CWE-798

External identity providers eliminate the need for hard-coded credentials in applications.

addresses: CWE-798

Changing default authenticators prior to first use and protecting content prevents use of hard-coded credentials.

addresses: CWE-798

Central credential stores and rotation policies remove the need for hard-coded credentials in configuration files or code.

addresses: CWE-798

Intelligence programs surface reports of campaigns that abuse hard-coded credentials in products, prompting removal or replacement and thereby reducing successful exploitation.

addresses: CWE-798

Planned investment enables secure credential storage and management systems instead of hard-coded credentials.

References