CVE-2025-2241: Hive Credential Exposure Vulnerability

CVE-2025-2241 Overview

A significant security vulnerability has been identified in Hive, a component of Red Hat's Multicluster Engine (MCE) and Advanced Cluster Management (ACM). This flaw results in VCenter credentials being exposed in the ClusterProvision object after provisioning a VSphere cluster. Users with read access to ClusterProvision objects can extract sensitive credentials even if they do not have direct access to Kubernetes Secrets, potentially leading to unauthorized VCenter access, cluster management capabilities, and privilege escalation.

Critical Impact

Unauthorized users with read access to ClusterProvision objects can extract VCenter credentials, enabling unauthorized access to VMware vSphere environments and potential privilege escalation across managed clusters.

Affected Products

• Red Hat Hive (component of Multicluster Engine)
• Red Hat Multicluster Engine (MCE)
• Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management (ACM)

Discovery Timeline

• March 17, 2025 - CVE-2025-2241 published to NVD
• March 17, 2025 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-2241

Vulnerability Analysis

This vulnerability is classified under CWE-922 (Insecure Storage of Sensitive Information), which describes scenarios where sensitive data is stored in a location or manner that is accessible to unintended parties. In this case, after provisioning a VSphere cluster through Hive, VCenter credentials are improperly stored within the ClusterProvision Kubernetes object rather than being properly secured within Kubernetes Secrets.

The vulnerability requires network access and low privileges to exploit, though it does involve high attack complexity. This is particularly concerning because the credentials exposure persists after cluster provisioning, creating a window of opportunity for attackers with limited access to escalate their privileges significantly.

Root Cause

The root cause of this vulnerability lies in improper credential handling during the VSphere cluster provisioning workflow. When Hive provisions a new VSphere cluster, it stores VCenter credentials in the ClusterProvision object in a manner that makes them readable to users who have read permissions on that object type. This violates the principle of least privilege, as access to Kubernetes Secrets should be separate from general object read permissions.

The credentials should be exclusively stored and referenced through Kubernetes Secrets with appropriate RBAC controls, but instead they are exposed in the ClusterProvision object metadata or spec fields.

Attack Vector

An attacker exploiting this vulnerability would need read access to ClusterProvision objects within the Kubernetes cluster running Hive. The attack scenario involves:

1. The attacker identifies a cluster running Red Hat MCE or ACM with Hive managing VSphere cluster provisioning
2. Using their existing credentials with read access to ClusterProvision objects, the attacker queries for provisioned clusters
3. The attacker extracts the exposed VCenter credentials from the ClusterProvision object
4. With these credentials, the attacker can authenticate directly to the VCenter server, bypassing normal Kubernetes RBAC controls
5. From VCenter, the attacker can manipulate virtual infrastructure, potentially compromising additional clusters or escalating privileges

The vulnerability requires network access to exploit and the attacker must have at least low-level privileges within the Kubernetes environment. See the Red Hat CVE-2025-2241 Advisory for additional technical details.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-2241

Indicators of Compromise

• Unexpected API requests querying ClusterProvision objects, particularly from users who don't typically interact with cluster provisioning
• Unusual VCenter authentication attempts using credentials associated with Hive-managed cluster provisioning
• Audit log entries showing access to ClusterProvision resources from unauthorized service accounts or users
• VCenter activity from unexpected IP addresses or during unusual time periods

Detection Strategies

• Enable Kubernetes audit logging and monitor for get, list, and watch operations on ClusterProvision resources
• Implement RBAC auditing to identify users and service accounts with read access to ClusterProvision objects
• Monitor VCenter authentication logs for login attempts using credentials associated with automated provisioning
• Deploy runtime security monitoring to detect credential harvesting attempts within the Kubernetes cluster

Monitoring Recommendations

• Configure alerts for any access to ClusterProvision objects by non-administrative users
• Implement VCenter session monitoring to detect concurrent or anomalous authentication patterns
• Review Kubernetes RBAC policies periodically to ensure minimal privilege assignment for ClusterProvision access
• Enable SentinelOne Kubernetes workload protection to monitor for suspicious API interactions and credential access patterns

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-2241

Immediate Actions Required

• Review and restrict RBAC permissions for ClusterProvision objects to only essential administrative users and service accounts
• Audit all existing ClusterProvision objects for exposed credentials and rotate any potentially compromised VCenter passwords
• Monitor access logs for any suspicious queries to ClusterProvision resources
• Apply vendor patches as soon as they become available from Red Hat

Patch Information

Red Hat has acknowledged this vulnerability and is tracking it through Red Hat Bugzilla ID 2351350. Organizations should monitor the Red Hat CVE-2025-2241 Advisory for patch availability and apply updates to MCE and ACM components as soon as they are released.

Workarounds

• Implement strict RBAC policies limiting read access to ClusterProvision objects to only essential cluster administrators
• Rotate VCenter credentials immediately for any VSphere clusters provisioned through Hive
• Consider network segmentation to limit access between the Kubernetes management plane and VCenter infrastructure
• Implement additional monitoring on VCenter authentication to detect unauthorized access attempts using provisioning credentials

# Example: Audit users with ClusterProvision access
kubectl auth can-i --list | grep clusterprovision

# Review RBAC bindings for ClusterProvision resources
kubectl get clusterrolebindings -o json | jq '.items[] | select(.roleRef.name | contains("clusterprovision"))'

# Check for existing ClusterProvision objects
kubectl get clusterprovisions -A -o yaml | grep -i "vcenter\|password\|credential"