Overview
This report focuses on the CVE-2025-53542, a critical vulnerability identified in the Kubernetes Headlamp project, an extensible web UI designed for Kubernetes. The vulnerability allows for command injection, which can lead to system compromise or data leakage. This issue is of particular concern due to the widespread use of Kubernetes in the tech industry, putting numerous systems at potential risk.
Vulnerability Summary
CVE ID: CVE-2025-53542
Severity: High (7.7 CVSS score)
Attack Vector: Network
Privileges Required: Low
User Interaction: None
Impact: Potential system compromise and data leakage
Affected Products
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Product | Affected Versions
Kubernetes Headlamp | Up to 0.31.0
How the Exploit Works
The vulnerability stems from the misuse of Node.js’s execSync() function in the codeSign.js script, which is part of the macOS packaging workflow. This function executes a shell command with the provided arguments. The parameters ${teamID}, ${entitlementsPath}, and ${config.app} are sourced dynamically from the environment or application config and are supplied to the command without proper sanitization or argument separation. If these values contain malicious input, it can lead to command injection, allowing an attacker to execute arbitrary commands on the system.
Conceptual Example Code
Imagine an attacker has control over the ${teamID} environment variable and sets its value to `;rm -rf /`. The command executed with execSync() would then be equivalent to the following:
require('child_process').execSync('codesign --force --sign ${teamID} --entitlements ${entitlementsPath} ${config.app}');
//Equivalent to:
require('child_process').execSync('codesign --force --sign ;rm -rf / --entitlements ${entitlementsPath} ${config.app}');This would result in the deletion of all files in the system’s root directory, demonstrating the potential destructive power of this vulnerability.
Mitigation Guidance
The vulnerability has been fixed in version 0.31.1 of Kubernetes Headlamp. Users are strongly advised to update to this version or later. If update is not possible, the use of a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) can serve as a temporary mitigation method.
