Vigilbase CVEConnect your agent

ingress-nginx admission controller RCE escalation

Not in CISA KEVPublic exploit codeCVE-2025-1974CWE-653

Not confirmed exploited. 2 of 8 rule sources name it. Our CRS test: not blocked.

Edge rules
2/8
Our test
Not blocked
CVSS
9.8
EPSS
99.4% Top 0.1%
Posts, 14d
22026-10-20: 0 posts2026-10-21: 0 posts2026-10-22: 0 posts2026-10-23: 0 posts2026-10-24: 0 posts2026-10-25: 0 posts2026-10-26: 0 posts2026-10-27: 0 posts2026-10-28: 0 posts2026-10-29: 0 posts2026-10-30: 0 posts2026-10-31: 0 posts2026-11-01: 0 posts2026-11-02: 2 posts
Published
2025-03-24
A security issue was discovered in Kubernetes where under certain conditions, an unauthenticated attacker with access to the pod network can achieve arbitrary code execution in the context of the ingress-nginx controller. This can lead to… More

A security issue was discovered in Kubernetes where under certain conditions, an unauthenticated attacker with access to the pod network can achieve arbitrary code execution in the context of the ingress-nginx controller. This can lead to disclosure of Secrets accessible to the controller. (Note that in the default installation, the controller can access all Secrets cluster-wide.)

Ask Vigil

AI · answers from this page
Ask about CVE-2025-1974: who's covered, what to patch first, how vendors compare. I cite sources and won't help with attacks.

Workers AI (Llama 3.3). Can be wrong: check the cited source.

Severity, decoded

CVSS 3.1
Critical · 9.8 / 10

Exploitable over the network, with no privileges and no user interaction, leading to full loss of confidentiality, integrity and availability.

Over the internetNo login neededNo user actionWorks reliablyFull compromise
How the score is built8 metrics
  • Attack vectorAn attacker can reach it over the internet; no access to your network needed.
    Network
  • Attack complexityNo special conditions are needed; the attack works reliably.
    Low
  • Privileges requiredNo account or login is needed.
    None
  • User interactionNo one has to click or open anything; the attack works on its own.
    None
  • ScopeThe damage stays within the vulnerable component.
    Unchanged
  • Confidentiality impactAn attacker can read all data the affected component holds, or the most sensitive parts of it.
    High
  • Integrity impactAn attacker can change any data or files the affected component protects.
    High
  • Availability impactAn attacker can take the component down completely or keep it from serving anyone.
    High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CISA's assessmentSSVC, from the CVE record
ExploitationProof of concept

Public exploit code or a detailed write-up exists, but CISA has not seen attacks.

AutomatableYes

Attackers can script the attack end to end and hit many targets at once.

Technical impactTotal

A successful attack gives full control over the affected software or all of its data.

Public exploits

3 found
0 Metasploit2 Exploit-DB1 Scanner template0 GitHub PoCs

Links are to third-party code: never run it outside an isolated lab.

Timeline

  1. 2025-03-24
    CVE published
    CVE List
  2. 2025-04-28
    F5 ships a rule
    Kubernetes NGINX Ingress Admission Controller Command Execution
  3. 2025-06-20
    Exploit published on Exploit-DB
    Ingress-NGINX 4.11.0 - Remote Code Execution (RCE)
  4. 2025-08-11
    Cloudflare ships a rule
    Ingress-Nginx - Remote Code Execution - CVE:CVE-2025-1974
  5. 2026-11-02
    First social mention we saw
  6. 2026-11-02
    Our test: OWASP Core Rule Set let it through
    paranoia level 1, anomaly threshold 5, default CRS settings
  7. 2026-11-02
    Our test: OWASP Core Rule Set blocked it
    paranoia level 2, anomaly threshold 5, default CRS settings

Social

2026-10-20: 0 posts2026-10-21: 0 posts2026-10-22: 0 posts2026-10-23: 0 posts2026-10-24: 0 posts2026-10-25: 0 posts2026-10-26: 0 posts2026-10-27: 0 posts2026-10-28: 0 posts2026-10-29: 0 posts2026-10-30: 0 posts2026-10-31: 0 posts2026-11-01: 0 posts2026-11-02: 2 posts

Top posts

  • GooIng@gooinguy·

    CVE-2025-1974 (CVSS 9.8) de ingress-nginx no es nueva, pero sigue crítica: RCE sin credenciales, acceso a Secrets del clúster y exploits públicos. ✅ ¿Versión 1.11.5, 1.12.1 o superior? ✅ ¿Webhook accesible solo desde el API Server? https://t.co/W5mWKMxQlG #Kubernetes #GooIng

    View on X
  • GooIng@gooinguy·

    CVE-2025-1974 (CVSS 9.8) de ingress-nginx no es nueva, pero sigue siendo crítica: RCE sin credenciales y acceso a los Secrets del clúster. ✅ ¿Versión 1.12.1, 1.11.5, 1.10.7 o superior? ✅ ¿Webhook accesible solo desde el API Server? https://t.co/W5mWKMxQlG #Kubernetes #GooIng

    View on X

Vendor statements

Quoted
CloudflareWAF Managed Rules1 quoteRule off by default

First rule 2025-08-11, 140 days after the CVE was published.

2025-08-11New rule…5d8102e1Default: DisabledSource
Ingress-Nginx - Remote Code Execution - CVE:CVE-2025-1974. Previous action: Log. New action: Disabled. This is a New Detection
AWSAWS WAF Managed RulesNo public claim

We found no public statement from this vendor naming this CVE. That is not proof of no protection: generic rules may still catch it. AWS often describes a vulnerability without naming its CVE (for example "Log4j"). We count only entries that name the CVE, so AWS coverage is understated.

Microsoft AzureFront Door and Application Gateway WAF (DRS)No public claim

We found no public statement from this vendor naming this CVE. That is not proof of no protection: generic rules may still catch it. The rule tables name CVEs but carry no dates, so Azure is left out of every time-to-rule figure.

Google CloudCloud Armor preconfigured WAF rulesNo public claim

We found no public statement from this vendor naming this CVE. That is not proof of no protection: generic rules may still catch it. Google names few CVEs: the release notes start in May 2024 and the rules reference lists CVEs without dates. Its cve-canary rules are opt-in.

FastlyNext-Gen WAF virtual patchesBefore feed history

The CVE predates the oldest entry in this vendor's public feed, so a rule may exist that we cannot see.

F5Attack signatures (Distributed Cloud WAF)1 quoteRule published

First rule 2025-04-28, 35 days after the CVE was published.

2025-04-28New rule200103569Source
Added: signature 200103569 "Kubernetes NGINX Ingress Admission Controller Command Execution" (Command Execution, risk High), systems: Nginx. References: CVE-2025-1097, CVE-2025-1098, CVE-2025-1974, CVE-2025-24514.
AkamaiApp & API Protector (Adaptive Security Engine)No public source

This vendor publishes no machine-readable rule changelog we can check.

OWASP CRSCore Rule Set (open source, used inside many WAFs)No public claim

We found no public statement from this vendor naming this CVE. That is not proof of no protection: generic rules may still catch it. CRS rarely names CVEs: it relies on generic detections. Our own lab measures what it actually blocks.