HighPublic exploitVulnerability

CVE-2025-1097

Configuration injection in ingress-nginx auth-tls-match-cn annotation

Published Mar 24, 2025 · Updated 28 days ago

Trending this weekNot trendingOutside this week’s top 100

Mention activity · 30 daysNo mention activity in the last 30 days.

CVSS8.8High · v3.1

EPSS37.0%99th percentile

CISA KEVNoNot listed

In the wildNonePublic exploit, no exploitation reported

IdentifiersCVE-2025-1097CWE-20 · Improper Input Validation

CVE-2025-1097 is an input-validation vulnerability in the Kubernetes ingress-nginx controller. Improper sanitization of the auth-tls-match-cn Ingress annotation allows an attacker to inject malicious NGINX configuration. Exploitation can lead to arbitrary code execution in the controller's context and disclosure of Kubernetes Secrets accessible to its service account. Default installations grant the controller access to Secrets cluster-wide. Fixed releases are 1.11.5 and 1.12.1.

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Analyst brief

Impact, mitigation & remediation

What it means and what to do now: patch path, interim mitigations, and the assume-compromise checklist.

Impact

What an attacker gets, and what they’ve been doing with it.

Successful exploitation can compromise the ingress-nginx controller through arbitrary code execution and expose Secrets within its authorization scope. In default installations, this includes Secrets across the cluster. Exposure of credentials and service account tokens can enable further privilege escalation and potentially cluster takeover, depending on the permissions associated with those credentials.

Mitigation

If you can’t patch tonight, do this now.

Restrict use of vulnerable Ingress annotations and increase monitoring of ingress-nginx activity. To reduce exposure to the unauthenticated admission-webhook exploitation chain involving CVE-2025-1974, temporarily disable the Validating Admission Controller or restrict network access to its endpoint until patching is complete. These webhook measures are not a substitute for fixing the annotation-injection vulnerability. Re-enable admission validation after upgrading.

Remediation

Patch, then assume compromise.

Upgrade ingress-nginx to version 1.11.5 or later in the 1.11 release branch, or version 1.12.1 or later in the 1.12 release branch. Audit Ingress annotations and investigate suspicious controller activity. Patching does not remediate a compromise that occurred before the upgrade.

Public exploits

Exploits

2 exploits validated by Mallory's analysis. Hidden: 1 not yet analyzed, such as Exploit-DB entries.

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IngressNightmare-PoCThis repository provides a functional exploit for unauthenticated remote code execution (RCE) vulnerabilities in the Ingress NGINX Controller for Kubernetes (CVE-2025-1097, CVE-2025-1098, CVE-2025-24514, CVE-2025-1974). The exploit consists of a Python script (exploit.py) that orchestrates the attack, a C template (lib_template.c) for generating a malicious shared object (evil_engine.so) containing a reverse shell payload, and a crafted AdmissionReview JSON (review.json) for the admission controller. The workflow involves compiling the shared object with attacker-supplied host and port, uploading it to the ingress pod via a manipulated HTTP POST request, and brute-forcing Linux file descriptors via the admission webhook to trigger the payload. The exploit targets Kubernetes clusters with vulnerable Ingress NGINX Controller versions and requires both the public ingress URL and the internal admission webhook URL. The payload, when loaded, provides a reverse shell to the attacker. The repository is well-structured, with clear separation of exploit logic, payload generation, and supporting files. No hardcoded IPs or domains are present; endpoints are supplied at runtime. The exploit is operational and demonstrates a practical attack chain for cluster compromise.hakaioffsec · Disclosed Mar 26, 2025 · python · c · networkOperational IngressNightmare-PoCThis repository contains two Python scripts, IngressNightmareV1.py and IngressNightmareV2.py, which are nearly identical in structure and function. Both scripts implement an exploit targeting Kubernetes environments, specifically leveraging exposed ingress endpoints and admission webhooks. The exploit works in two stages: first, it uploads a malicious ELF shared object (provided as a base64-encoded string in the script) to the ingress endpoint via a crafted HTTP POST request. Second, it attempts to brute-force file descriptors on the admission webhook endpoint by sending requests to /proc/{pid}/fd/{fd} paths, potentially exploiting a vulnerability that allows the attacker to keep the malicious file open and trigger its execution. The scripts use threading and concurrent requests to maximize the chance of success. The main capabilities are remote code execution or privilege escalation within a Kubernetes cluster. The scripts require the attacker to provide the ingress and admission webhook URLs as arguments. No hardcoded IPs or domains are present; all endpoints are user-supplied. The payload is a binary ELF shared object, indicating a high level of operational maturity.lufeirider · Disclosed Mar 30, 2025 · python · networkOperational

External references

References

MITRE CVEcve.org · CVE-2025-1097 NVDnvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-1097 MITRE CWE · CWE-20Improper Input Validation github.comgithub.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/issues/131007 security.netapp.comsecurity.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20250328-0008 exploit-db.comexploit-db.com/exploits/52475

Activity feed

Recent activity

15 sources tracked across advisories, community write-ups, and news. New activity surfaces here as Mallory finds it.

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cloudatg insightsNews · Feb 13, 2026AI Development & Software Engineering | CloudATGOne of a set of critical Ingress NGINX Controller vulnerabilities that can lead to unauthenticated remote code execution in Kubernetes environments.Read more ↗coalitionincNews · Jan 1, 2026CVE-2025-1974 | Coalition Exploit Scoring SystemUnknownRead more ↗datadog security labsNews · Mar 25, 2025The 'IngressNightmare' vulnerabilities in the Kubernetes Ingress NGINX Controller: Overview, detection, and remediationA high-severity configuration injection vulnerability in ingress-nginx controller via unsanitized auth-tls-match-cn annotation, potentially allowing attackers to inject malicious NGINX configuration.Read more ↗kubernetes blogNews · Mar 24, 2025Ingress-nginx CVE-2025-1974: What You Need to Know | KubernetesOne of the ingress-nginx vulnerabilities patched in the March 2025 release; the article groups it among flaws involving nginx configuration handling that could contribute to Secret exposure and cluster takeover.Read more ↗

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Exposure mappingQuery your assets running an affected version, and investigate the blast radius.

Threat actor evidenceEvery report linking this CVE to a named adversary.

Associated malwareMalware families linked to this CVE, with evidence and IOCs.

Detection signatures1YARA, Sigma, Snort, and vendor rules, auto-deployed to your SIEM.

Vendor-by-vendor mappingCross-references every affected SKU, including bundled OEM variants.

Social activity7Community discussion across Reddit, Mastodon, and other social sources.