Rancher's External RoleTemplates can lead to privilege escalation

Exploitation

No confirmed exploitation recorded. Patch Next marks exploitation only from CISA KEV.

CVSS 4.0

7.5 · CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:H/AT:N/PR:H/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N · score source

EPSS

• CVE-2023-32196: 0.55% estimated exploitation activity in the next 30 days; percentile 46.24 (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-03). This is a model estimate, not proof of exploitation or customer exposure.

As published by the source; long descriptions are shortened.

Impact A vulnerability has been identified whereby privilege escalation checks are not properly enforced for RoleTemplateobjects when external=true, which in specific scenarios can lead to privilege escalation. The bug in the webhook rule resolver ignores rules from a ClusterRole for external RoleTemplates when its context is set to either project or is left empty. The fix introduces a new field to the RoleTemplate CRD named ExternalRules. The new field will be used to resolve rules directly from the RoleTemplate. Additionally, rules from the backing ClusterRole will be used if ExternalRules is not provided. The new field will always take precedence when it is set, and serve as the source of truth for rules used when creating Rancher resources on the local cluster. Please note that this is a breaking change for external RoleTemplates, when context is set to project or empty and the backing ClusterRole does not exist, as this was not previously required. Important: The fix is…

Published by the source

17 Jun 2024, 22:30 UTC

Last modified by the source

16 Oct 2024, 17:26 UTC

Source last checked

26 Oct 2026, 15:05 UTC

1. Revision 1 · created · 26 Oct 2026

   Published from ghsa record GHSA-64jq-m7rq-768h

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# Patch Next advisory brief: CVE-2023-32196

Advisory: Rancher's External RoleTemplates can lead to privilege escalation
IDs: CVE-2023-32196, GHSA-64jq-m7rq-768h
Record: https://patchnext.com/advisories/cve-2023-32196 (revision 1, source checked 26 Oct 2026, 15:05 UTC)
Inventory: none attached. This brief comes from a public page and does not say whether any deployment is affected.
Severity: High (CVSS 7.5)
Exploitation: no confirmed exploitation recorded. Patch Next confirms exploitation only from CISA KEV.
Vendor response: Vendor fix available; fixed versions by package: github.com/rancher/rancher 2.8.5, 2.7.14. A vendor fix does not mean a deployment is fixed.

## Affected components
- Go github.com/rancher/rancher: affected >= 2.7.0, < 2.7.14; >= 2.8.0, < 2.8.5; fixed in 2.8.5, 2.7.14

## Suggested inspection (read-only)
- Go github.com/rancher/rancher: check the installed version with your package manager.

## Supported action
Upgrade each affected component to a fixed version on its release line. For a transitive dependency, upgrade the parent package or add an override or constraint, then regenerate the lockfile. Redeploy every environment that ran an affected version.

## Required regression checks
- Run the test suite and a production build.
- Exercise the features that depend on github.com/rancher/rancher.
- Repeat the inspection and confirm that only fixed versions remain installed.

## Rollback considerations
- Keep the previous lockfile and deployment artifact. Rolling back reinstates the vulnerable version, so apply any documented mitigation while you fix forward.

## Unresolved questions
- Which deployments run an affected version?
- Exploitation status can change. Check again before lowering the priority.
- Mark the work resolved only after the fixed version is verified in production.

## Sources
- Verified: https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-64jq-m7rq-768h (GitHub-reviewed advisory GHSA-64jq-m7rq-768h lists affected ranges: Go github.com/rancher/rancher >=2.7.0 =2.8.0 <2.8.5)

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