etcd is a distributed key-value store for the data of a distributed system. Prior to versions 3.4.42, 3.5.28, and 3.6.9, an authenticated user with RBAC restricted permissions on key ranges can use nested transactions to bypass all key-level authorization. This allows any authenticated user with direct access to etcd to effectively ignore all key range restrictions, accessing the entire etcd data store. Kubernetes does not rely on etcd’s built-in authentication and authorization. Instead, the API server handles authentication and authorization itself, so typical Kubernetes deployments are not affected. Versions 3.4.42, 3.5.28, and 3.6.9 contain a patch. If upgrading is not immediately possible, reduce exposure by treating the affected RPCs as unauthenticated in practice. Restrict network access to etcd server ports so only trusted components can connect and require strong client identity at the transport layer, such as mTLS with tightly scoped client certificate distribution.
Project Subscriptions
No data.
Advisories
| Source | ID | Title |
|---|---|---|
Github GHSA |
GHSA-rfx7-8w68-q57q | etcd: Nested etcd transactions bypass RBAC authorization checks |
Fixes
Solution
No solution given by the vendor.
Workaround
No workaround given by the vendor.
References
History
Thu, 26 Mar 2026 13:45:00 +0000
| Type | Values Removed | Values Added |
|---|---|---|
| Description | etcd is a distributed key-value store for the data of a distributed system. Prior to versions 3.4.42, 3.5.28, and 3.6.9, an authenticated user with RBAC restricted permissions on key ranges can use nested transactions to bypass all key-level authorization. This allows any authenticated user with direct access to etcd to effectively ignore all key range restrictions, accessing the entire etcd data store. Kubernetes does not rely on etcd’s built-in authentication and authorization. Instead, the API server handles authentication and authorization itself, so typical Kubernetes deployments are not affected. Versions 3.4.42, 3.5.28, and 3.6.9 contain a patch. If upgrading is not immediately possible, reduce exposure by treating the affected RPCs as unauthenticated in practice. Restrict network access to etcd server ports so only trusted components can connect and require strong client identity at the transport layer, such as mTLS with tightly scoped client certificate distribution. | |
| Title | etcd: Nested etcd transactions bypass RBAC authorization checks | |
| Weaknesses | CWE-863 | |
| References |
| |
| Metrics |
cvssV3_1
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Projects
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Status: PUBLISHED
Assigner: GitHub_M
Published:
Updated: 2026-03-26T13:23:48.247Z
Reserved: 2026-03-18T22:15:11.813Z
Link: CVE-2026-33343
No data.
Status : Awaiting Analysis
Published: 2026-03-26T14:16:13.137
Modified: 2026-03-26T15:13:15.790
Link: CVE-2026-33343
No data.
OpenCVE Enrichment
No data.
Weaknesses
Github GHSA