CVE-2025-23391: Rancher Restricted Administrator Can Change Administrator's Vulnerability
CRITICALCVE-2025-23391 is a CRITICAL (CVSS 9.1) restricted administrator can change administrator's vulnerability (CWE-266: Incorrect Privilege Assignment) affecting Rancher libraries in the Go ecosystem. The issue involves restricted administrator can change administrator's passwords. Remediation is available by upgrading affected packages to version 2.8.14, 2.9.8, 2.10.4.
CVE-2025-23391 at a Glance
Security Impact
CVSS: 9.1
The security impact metrics below are parsed directly from the CVSS v3.1 vector string (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H).
How to Fix CVE-2025-23391
To remediate this vulnerability, upgrade all affected Rancher dependencies to a patched release. Both direct and transitive dependencies should be checked, as frameworks or security libraries may pull in vulnerable versions transitively.
Upgrade github.com/rancher/rancher to 2.8.14
Upgrade github.com/rancher/rancher to 2.9.8
Upgrade github.com/rancher/rancher to 2.10.4
Run the following command in your project directory to verify that all resolved dependencies use the patched release:
inspect dependencies for github.com/rancher/rancher
How to Check if You Are Affected
To determine whether your application is affected by CVE-2025-23391, inspect your project dependencies for Rancher:
inspect dependencies for github.com/rancher/rancher
Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of Rancher in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than 2.8.14), your application is affected.
Note: Verify declared build manifests and deployed runtime container environments.
Technical Details
Vulnerability Mechanism & Technical Analysis
This vulnerability is classified under CWE-266: Incorrect Privilege Assignment, where a product incorrectly assigns a privilege to a particular actor, creating an unintended sphere of control for that actor. In Rancher, software state validation or input boundaries are circumvented during processing. Review the official source advisory statement below for specific affected components, classes, and reproduction details.
Source Advisory Statement
CVE-2025-23391 Affected Rancher Versions
3 component(s)| Product / Package | Ecosystem | Affected Versions | Fixed Version |
|---|---|---|---|
|
github.com/rancher/rancher
|
Go |
≥ 2.8.0
< 2.8.14
|
2.8.14
|
|
github.com/rancher/rancher
|
Go |
≥ 2.9.0
< 2.9.8
|
2.9.8
|
|
github.com/rancher/rancher
|
Go |
≥ 2.10.0
< 2.10.4
|
2.10.4
|
References
Frequently Asked Questions
What is CVE-2025-23391?
Which Rancher versions are affected?
What version fixes CVE-2025-23391?
Is github.com/rancher/rancher affected?
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2025-23391?
What CWE is associated with CVE-2025-23391?
How can I check Go dependencies for CVE-2025-23391?
Machine-readable OSV JSON
OSV v1.5 Schema
{
"schema_version" : "1.4.0",
"id" : "GHSA-8p83-cpfg-fj3g",
"modified" : "2025-04-11T23:13:29Z",
"published" : "2025-04-01T14:19:30Z",
"aliases" : [ "CVE-2025-23391" ],
"summary" : "Rancher: Restricted Administrator can change Administrator's passwords",
"details" : "### Impact\nA vulnerability has been identified within Rancher where a Restricted Administrator can change the password of Administrators and take over their accounts. \n\nA Restricted Administrator should be not allowed to change the password of more privileged users unless it contains the Manage Users permissions.\n\nRancher deployments where the Restricted Administrator role is not being used are not affected by this CVE.\nPlease consult the associated [MITRE ATT&CK - Technique - Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1548/) for further information about this category of attack.\n\n### Patches\nThe fix introduces a few changes:\n1. 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.\n2. 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.\n\nPatched versions include releases `v2.8.14`, `v2.9.8`, `v2.10.4` and `v2.11.0`\n\n### Workarounds\nUsers are recommended to upgrade, as soon as possible, to a version of Rancher Manager that contains the fix.\nIf users can't upgrade, the following are recommended:\n1. Limit access to Rancher Restricted Admin only to trusted users.\n2. Downgrade Restricted Administrators to custom roles with limited permissions.\n\n### Credits\nThis issue was identified and reported by Xavier Duthil from OVHcloud.\n\n### References\nIf you have any questions or comments about this advisory:\n- Reach out to the [SUSE Rancher Security team](https://github.com/rancher/rancher/security/policy) for security related inquiries.\n- Open an issue in the [Rancher](https://github.com/rancher/rancher/issues/new/choose) repository.\n- Verify with our [support matrix](https://www.suse.com/suse-rancher/support-matrix/all-supported-versions/) and [product support lifecycle](https://www.suse.com/lifecycle/).",
"severity" : [ {
"type" : "CVSS_V3",
"score" : "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H"
} ],
"affected" : [ {
"package" : {
"ecosystem" : "Go",
"name" : "github.com/rancher/rancher"
},
"ranges" : [ {
"type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
"events" : [ {
"introduced" : "2.8.0"
}, {
"fixed" : "2.8.14"
} ]
} ]
}, {
"package" : {
"ecosystem" : "Go",
"name" : "github.com/rancher/rancher"
},
"ranges" : [ {
"type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
"events" : [ {
"introduced" : "2.9.0"
}, {
"fixed" : "2.9.8"
} ]
} ]
}, {
"package" : {
"ecosystem" : "Go",
"name" : "github.com/rancher/rancher"
},
"ranges" : [ {
"type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
"events" : [ {
"introduced" : "2.10.0"
}, {
"fixed" : "2.10.4"
} ]
} ]
} ],
"references" : [ {
"type" : "WEB",
"url" : "https://github.com/rancher/rancher/security/advisories/GHSA-8p83-cpfg-fj3g"
}, {
"type" : "ADVISORY",
"url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-23391"
}, {
"type" : "WEB",
"url" : "https://bugzilla.suse.com/show_bug.cgi?id=CVE-2025-23391"
}, {
"type" : "PACKAGE",
"url" : "https://github.com/rancher/rancher"
} ],
"database_specific" : {
"cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-266" ],
"severity" : "CRITICAL",
"github_reviewed" : true,
"github_reviewed_at" : "2025-04-01T14:19:30Z",
"nvd_published_at" : "2025-04-11T11:15:42Z"
}
}