{"id":"CVE-2026-65960","kind":"vulnerability","aliases":["CVE-2026-65960"],"related":[],"title":"Tetragon: unauthenticated gRPC listener lets same-node pods escalate privileges","description":"Tetragon is an eBPF-based security observability and runtime enforcement project. Versions before 1.7.0 can use a Helm default that exposes the privileged Tetragon gRPC API through an unauthenticated TCP listener on localhost:54321. An attacker who can run or compromise same-node hostNetwork pods can reach the listener and invoke privileged methods without authentication. These methods can add, delete, or reconfigure tracing policies and change debug settings, potentially resulting in privilege escalation or container escape. Version 1.7.0 changes the default endpoint to a Unix-domain socket. Deployments that do not expose an unauthenticated TCP listener are not affected.","summary":"Tetragon versions before 1.7.0 ship a Helm default that exposes its privileged gRPC API on an unauthenticated TCP listener at localhost:54321. A attacker running or controlling a hostNetwork pod on the same node can call that API to change tracing policies and debug settings, which can lead to privilege escalation or container escape.","severity":"high","cvss":8.8,"epss":null,"exploited":false,"exploited_at":null,"products":[],"ecosystems":[],"tags":["ebpf","helm","kubernetes","runtime","tetragon"],"not_affected_if":["no-hostnetwork-pods","no-tcp-listener","version-1.7.0-or-later"],"how_to_check":"- Check the Tetragon version with `helm list -A` and the chart values for the gRPC endpoint setting\n- Look for a TCP listener on port `54321` on Kubernetes nodes running Tetragon\n- Check whether any `hostNetwork: true` pods run on the same nodes as Tetragon","fix":"- Tetragon: move to `1.7.0` or later, which changes the default endpoint to a Unix-domain socket","status":"open","published_at":"2026-11-06T20:17:24+00:00","first_seen_at":"2026-11-06T20:44:00+00:00","triaged_at":"2026-11-06T20:44:10+00:00","updated_at":"2026-11-06T20:44:10+00:00","category":"runtime","confidence":0.8,"triage":{"at":"2026-11-06T20:44:10Z","model":"claude-haiku-5-5","output":{"fix":"- Tetragon: move to `1.7.0` or later, which changes the default endpoint to a Unix-domain socket","reach":"local","title":"Tetragon: unauthenticated gRPC listener lets same-node pods escalate privileges","impact":"high","summary":"Tetragon versions before 1.7.0 ship a Helm default that exposes its privileged gRPC API on an unauthenticated TCP listener at localhost:54321. A attacker running or controlling a hostNetwork pod on the same node can call that API to change tracing policies and debug settings, which can lead to privilege escalation or container escape.","audience":"businesses","category":"runtime","nicknames":[],"who_cares":["tetragon","kubernetes","helm","ebpf"],"confidence":0.8,"fix_status":"available","needs_auth":"no","worst_case":"attacker invokes privileged Tetragon methods, enabling container escape","analyst_note":"","how_to_check":"- Check the Tetragon version with `helm list -A` and the chart values for the gRPC endpoint setting\n- Look for a TCP listener on port `54321` on Kubernetes nodes running Tetragon\n- Check whether any `hostNetwork: true` pods run on the same nodes as Tetragon","plain_action":"","needs_analyst":false,"not_affected_if":["version-1.7.0-or-later","no-tcp-listener","no-hostnetwork-pods"],"who_is_affected":"Teams running Tetragon from the Helm chart before 1.7.0 with the default TCP gRPC listener on Kubernetes nodes. The risk depends on hostNetwork pods sharing a node with Tetragon; deployments that do not expose an unauthenticated TCP listener are not affected.","user_interaction":"no","needs_special_setup":"yes","severity_if_unknown":"high"},"cost_usd":0.000756,"input_tokens":4391,"output_tokens":634,"severity_before":"high"},"analyst_status":null,"analyst_note":null,"search":"'-2026':13A,16A '-65960':14A,17A '1.7.0':26B,91C,156C '54321':44B,111C 'add':137C 'affect':178C 'api':36B,60B,103C 'attack':46B,113C 'authent':133C 'base':82C 'call':58B 'chang':62B,144C,157C 'compromis':118C 'contain':75B,153C 'control':49B 'cve':12A,15A 'debug':66B,145C 'default':30B,96C,159C 'delet':138C 'deploy':167C 'domain':165C 'ebpf':18B,81C 'ebpf-bas':80C 'endpoint':160C 'enforc':87C 'escal':10A,73B,151C 'escap':76B,154C 'expos':32B,98C,171C 'grpc':3A,35B,102C 'helm':19B,29B,95C 'hostnetwork':51B,122C 'invok':129C 'kubernet':20B 'lead':70B 'let':5A 'listen':4A,41B,108C,127C,175C 'localhost':43B,110C 'method':131C,135C 'node':8A,56B,121C 'observ':84C 'pod':9A,52B,123C 'polici':64B,142C 'potenti':147C 'privileg':11A,34B,72B,100C,130C,150C 'project':88C 'reach':125C 'reconfigur':140C 'result':148C 'run':47B,116C 'runtim':21B,86C 'same-nod':6A,119C 'secur':83C 'set':67B,146C 'ship':27B 'socket':166C 'tcp':40B,107C,174C 'tetragon':1A,22B,23B,77C,101C 'trace':63B,141C 'unauthent':2A,39B,106C,173C 'unix':164C 'unix-domain':163C 'use':93C 'version':24B,89C,155C 'without':132C","nicknames":[],"mitigations":[],"who_affected":"Teams running Tetragon from the Helm chart before 1.7.0 with the default TCP gRPC listener on Kubernetes nodes. The risk depends on hostNetwork pods sharing a node with Tetragon; deployments that do not expose an unauthenticated TCP listener are not affected.","tier":"B","verified":{},"analyst_revisit_at":null,"fix_status":"available","audience":"businesses","plain_action":null,"pkeys":[],"ptokens":[],"labels":["ebpf","helm","high","kubernetes","runtime","tetragon"],"campaign_type":null,"search_a":"'-2026':13A,16A '-65960':14A,17A 'cve':12A,15A 'escal':10A 'grpc':3A 'let':5A 'listen':4A 'node':8A 'pod':9A 'privileg':11A 'same-nod':6A 'tetragon':1A 'unauthent':2A","search_b":"'1.7.0':26B '54321':44B 'api':36B,60B 'attack':46B 'call':58B 'chang':62B 'contain':75B 'control':49B 'debug':66B 'default':30B 'ebpf':18B 'escal':73B 'escap':76B 'expos':32B 'grpc':35B 'helm':19B,29B 'hostnetwork':51B 'kubernet':20B 'lead':70B 'listen':41B 'localhost':43B 'node':56B 'pod':52B 'polici':64B 'privileg':34B,72B 'run':47B 'runtim':21B 'set':67B 'ship':27B 'tcp':40B 'tetragon':22B,23B 'trace':63B 'unauthent':39B 'version':24B","search_c":"'1.7.0':91C,156C '54321':111C 'add':137C 'affect':178C 'api':103C 'attack':113C 'authent':133C 'base':82C 'chang':144C,157C 'compromis':118C 'contain':153C 'debug':145C 'default':96C,159C 'delet':138C 'deploy':167C 'domain':165C 'ebpf':81C 'ebpf-bas':80C 'endpoint':160C 'enforc':87C 'escal':151C 'escap':154C 'expos':98C,171C 'grpc':102C 'helm':95C 'hostnetwork':122C 'invok':129C 'listen':108C,127C,175C 'localhost':110C 'method':131C,135C 'node':121C 'observ':84C 'pod':123C 'polici':142C 'potenti':147C 'privileg':100C,130C,150C 'project':88C 'reach':125C 'reconfigur':140C 'result':148C 'run':116C 'runtim':86C 'same-nod':119C 'secur':83C 'set':146C 'socket':166C 'tcp':107C,174C 'tetragon':77C,101C 'trace':141C 'unauthent':106C,173C 'unix':164C 'unix-domain':163C 'use':93C 'version':89C,155C 'without':132C","first_public_at":"2026-07-27T08:35:42+00:00","kev":null,"cvss_vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H","cvss_by":"security-advisories@github.com","poc_count":0,"sources":[{"source":"nvd","external_id":"CVE-2026-65960","url":"https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-65960","severity":null,"published_at":"2026-11-06T20:17:24+00:00","modified_at":"2026-11-06T20:17:24+00:00","first_seen_at":"2026-11-06T20:44:00+00:00","fetched_at":"2026-11-06T20:44:00+00:00","note":null}],"documents":[{"id":89811,"url":"https://github.com/cilium/tetragon/commit/8e89933d3526f37c04f7523013ff32f8b1c6f62a","title":"Patch: github.com","kind":"other","source":"nvd","publisher":"vendor","text":null,"published_at":null,"relation":"fix","confidence":null,"note":"Patch: github.com"},{"id":89812,"url":"https://github.com/cilium/tetragon/commit/fe46101770b960ebbf39fe9749bb20d49cf178b2","title":"Patch: github.com","kind":"other","source":"nvd","publisher":"vendor","text":null,"published_at":null,"relation":"fix","confidence":null,"note":"Patch: github.com"},{"id":89815,"url":"https://github.com/cilium/tetragon/releases/tag/v1.7.0","title":"Release notes: github.com","kind":"release","source":"nvd","publisher":"vendor","text":null,"published_at":null,"relation":"fix","confidence":null,"note":"Release notes: github.com"},{"id":89818,"url":"https://github.com/cilium/tetragon/security/advisories/GHSA-6qqg-3qf7-p3v5","title":"Vendor advisory: github.com","kind":"vendor","source":"nvd","publisher":"vendor","text":null,"published_at":"2026-07-27T08:35:42+00:00","relation":"advisory","confidence":null,"note":"Vendor advisory: github.com"}],"exploit_sources":[],"notice":"Free to read, with fair use of about 60 pages a minute. For higher limits or API access: sales@infrastack.ai"}