ISTIO-SECURITY-2021-006

An external client can access unexpected services in the cluster, bypassing authorization checks, when a gateway is configured with AUTO_PASSTHROUGH routing configuration.

May 11, 2021

Disclosure Details
CVE(s)CVE-2021-31921
CVSS Impact Score10 AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
Affected ReleasesAll releases prior to 1.8.6
1.9.0 to 1.9.4

Issue

Istio contains a remotely exploitable vulnerability where an external client can access unexpected services in the cluster, bypassing authorization checks, when a gateway is configured with AUTO_PASSTHROUGH routing configuration.

Am I impacted?

This vulnerability impacts only usage of the AUTO_PASSTHROUGH Gateway type, which is typically only used in multi-network multi-cluster deployments.

The TLS mode of all Gateways in the cluster can be detected with the following command:

$ kubectl get gateways.networking.istio.io -A -o "custom-columns=NAMESPACE:.metadata.namespace,NAME:.metadata.name,TLS_MODE:.spec.servers[*].tls.mode"

If the output shows any AUTO_PASSTHROUGH Gateways, you may be impacted.

Mitigation

Update your cluster to the latest supported version:

Credit

We would like to thank John Howard (Google) for reporting this issue.