CVE-2026-33413 — etcd: Authorization bypasses in multiple APIs

etcd is a distributed key-value store for the data of a distributed system. Prior to versions 3.4.42, 3.5.28, and 3.6.9, unauthorized users may bypass authentication or authorization checks and call certain etcd functions in clusters that expose the gRPC API to untrusted or partially trusted clients. In unpatched etcd clusters with etcd auth enabled, unauthorized users are able to call MemberList and learn cluster topology, including member IDs and advertised endpoints; call Alarm, which can be abused for operational disruption or denial of service; use Lease APIs, interfering with TTL-based keys and lease ownership; and/or trigger compaction, permanently removing historical revisions and disrupting watch, audit, and recovery workflows. Kubernetes does not rely on etcd’s built-in authentication and authorization. Instead, the API server handles authentication and authorization itself…

Published Mar 26, 2026Updated Mar 26, 2026Sources: cvelistV5, GitHub_M

Triage

Is it exploited, how likely is exploitation, what does it touch, and how severe do the scoring sources call it.

Exploitation

Unreported

no source claims exploitation

EPSS

chance of exploitation in 30 days

Affects

etcd io

etcd

CVSS base

8.8

HIGH

CISA SSVC assessment

Three decision points CISA publishes for the CVEs it assesses · SSVC 2.0.3. A stakeholder decision, not a severity score.

CISA

Exploitation

None

none · proof-of-concept · active

Automatable

Yes

can an attacker script all four kill-chain steps

Technical impact

Partial

partial · total control of the vulnerable component

Affected scope

The catalog records vendors and products as separate lists, not pairs, so which product belongs to which vendor is not something this page can say.

Vendors (1)

etcd io

Products (1)

etcd

Every base score collected

Sources score independently and disagree; each row says who scored it and under which version.

Score	Version	Severity	Expl.	Impact	Source
8.8	CVSS 4.0	HIGH	—	—	cvelistV5

Weakness & attack patterns

CWE-862

Attack patterns reported against this CVE. The ATT&CK techniques below are inferred from its weakness class.

T1211Exploitation for Defensive Evasion
T1542.002Pre-OS Boot: Component Firmware
T1556Modify Authentication Process

Detection

Read off the CVSS vector and the weakness class. Starting points, not rules we have tested.

Search application, proxy, and WAF logs for requests touching /or.

References

1 on the record

github.com/etcd-io/etcd/security/advisories/GHSA-q8m4-xhhv-38mg
x_refsource_CONFIRM

Elsewhere on this site

etcd ioevery CVE for this vendor
CWE-862other pages naming this weakness

Not in any source we poll

Listed rather than left blank: an empty field and an unmeasured one look identical on screen, and only one is a reason to look elsewhere.

No confirmed IOCs, IP addresses, domains, file hashes, or malware artifacts supplied.
No organization-specific asset inventory, compensating-control status, or patch deployment evidence supplied.
No exploit packet captures, log samples, or incident case IDs supplied.