Nodes can delete themselves by adding an OwnerReference
A vulnerability exists in the NodeRestriction admission controller in Kubernetes clusters where node users can delete their corresponding node object by patching themselves with an OwnerReference to a cluster-scoped resource. If the OwnerReference resource does not exist or is subsequently deleted, the given node object will be deleted via garbage collection.
02 / AFFECTED SOFTWARE
Affected packages
24 explicit affected versions
03 / CONNECTIONS
Connected vulnerabilities
04 / EVIDENCE
Source records
A vulnerability exists in the NodeRestriction admission controller in Kubernetes clusters where node users can delete their corresponding node object by patching themselves with an OwnerReference to a cluster-scoped resource. If the OwnerReference resource does not exist or is subsequently deleted, the given node object will be deleted via garbage collection.
Kubernetes Nodes can delete themselves by adding an OwnerReference in k8s.io/kubernetes
A vulnerability exists in the NodeRestriction admission controller in Kubernetes clusters where node users can delete their corresponding node object by patching themselves with an OwnerReference to a cluster-scoped resource. If the OwnerReference resource does not exist or is subsequently deleted, the given node object will be deleted via garbage collection.
05 / REFERENCES
Further evidence
- https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2025/5xxx/CVE-2025-5187.json
- https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/issues/133471
- https://groups.google.com/g/kubernetes-security-announce/c/znSNY7XCztE
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-5187
- https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-4x4m-3c2p-qppc
- https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/commit/a2d98cac56a0c5cb2d8abc4d087fc00846b3bc0f
- https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes