VulnerabilityPublished 12 Aug 2024Updated 25 Feb 2026

CVE-2024-5651: Code Injection

Source CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 8.8 High.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 14:05 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

8.8High

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 1.3% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 71% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: Low
User Interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: High
Integrity: High
Availability: High

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed, up to and including the entire Internet. Such a vulnerability is often termed 'remotely exploitable' and can be thought of as an attack being exploitable at the protocol level one or more network hops away (e.g., across one or more routers).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: Low: The attacker is authorized with (i.e., requires) privileges that provide basic user capabilities that could normally affect only settings and files owned by a user. Alternatively, an attacker with Low privileges may have the ability to cause an impact only to non-sensitive resources.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
Confidentiality: High: There is total loss of confidentiality, resulting in all resources within the impacted component being divulged to the attacker. Alternatively, access to only some restricted information is obtained, but the disclosed information presents a direct, serious impact.
Integrity: High: There is a total loss of integrity, or a complete loss of protection. For example, the attacker is able to modify any/all files protected by the impacted component. Alternatively, only some files can be modified, but malicious modification would present a direct, serious consequence to the impacted component.
Availability: High: There is total loss of availability, resulting in the attacker being able to fully deny access to resources in the impacted component; this loss is either sustained (while the attacker continues to deliver the attack) or persistent (the condition persists even after the attack has completed). Alternatively, the attacker has the ability to deny some availability, but the loss of availability presents a direct, serious consequence to the impacted component (e.g., the attacker cannot disrupt existing connections, but can prevent new connections; the attacker can repeatedly exploit a vulnerability that, in each instance of a successful attack, leaks a only small amount of memory, but after repeated exploitation causes a service to become completely unavailable).

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 12 Aug 2024
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 26 Oct 2026.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC or the CVSS exploit maturity reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

AI-suggested

To mitigate CVE-2024-5651, organizations should immediately upgrade the Fence Agents Remediation operator to a patched version once available from the vendor or maintainers. Until a patch is released, restrict access to the operator's API and resources, limiting developer or low-privilege user permissions to prevent creation or modification of FenceAgentsRemediation resources with malicious arguments. Implement strict Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) policies to ensure that only trusted users can interact with fencing operators. Employ network segmentation and pod security policies to limit the operator pod's ability to execute arbitrary commands or escalate privileges. Monitor audit logs for suspicious creation or modification of fencing resources, especially those involving --ssh-path or --telnet-path parameters. Use runtime security tools to detect anomalous command execution within operator pods. Finally, conduct regular security assessments and penetration tests focusing on operator components to identify and remediate similar injection flaws proactively.

Description

A flaw was found in the Fence Agents Remediation operator. This vulnerability can allow a Remote Code Execution (RCE) primitive by supplying an arbitrary command to execute in the --ssh-path/--telnet-path arguments. A low-privilege user, for example, a user with developer access, can create a specially crafted FenceAgentsRemediation for a fence agent supporting --ssh-path/--telnet-path arguments to execute arbitrary commands on the operator's pod. This RCE leads to a privilege escalation, first as the service account running the operator, then to another service account with cluster-admin privileges.

Impact

The exploitation of CVE-2024-5651 can have severe consequences for organizations running Kubernetes or OpenShift clusters using the vulnerable Fence Agents Remediation operator. An attacker with low-level access can remotely execute arbitrary code on the operator's pod, leading to full cluster compromise through privilege escalation to cluster-admin service accounts. This undermines the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the entire cluster, potentially allowing attackers to deploy malicious workloads, exfiltrate sensitive data, disrupt services, or pivot to other internal resources. The vulnerability threatens critical infrastructure relying on container orchestration, including cloud service providers, enterprises with hybrid cloud deployments, and managed Kubernetes services. The ease of exploitation and the high privileges gained make this a critical risk for organizations that do not promptly address the vulnerability. Additionally, the compromise of cluster-admin privileges can facilitate persistent backdoors and evade detection, increasing the long-term impact on organizational security posture.

References

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