services / Azure / Kubernetes ClusterRoles

A ClusterRole is a cluster-scoped Kubernetes RBAC object that defines a named set of permissions (verbs over API resources) that can be bound to subjects cluster-wide via ClusterRoleBindings.

ClusterRoles define the permission sets behind every cluster-wide grant (the analog of Azure roleDefinitions); they can encode cluster-admin, so the asset is cluster-wide access-control policy.


Microsoft.​ContainerService/​aiManagers/​rbac.​authorization.​k8s.​io/​clusterroles/​escalate/​action

The Kubernetes 'escalate' verb explicitly bypasses the RBAC escalation-prevention guard, letting a subject grant a ClusterRole permissions exceeding its own and achieve cluster-admin-level privilege escalation.

Risks

Scope: CRITICAL

This privilege may grant access to sensitive data from a significant fraction of organizational functions, allow interruption of critical organizational services, or its exploit could lead to significant privilege escalation.

Links

  • https:​/​/​azure.​permissions.​cloud/​iam/​Microsoft.​ContainerService
  • https:​/​/​learn.​microsoft.​com/​en-​us/​azure/​role-​based-​access-​control/​resource-​provider-​operations
  • Contributed by P0 Security

    © 2023–present P0 Security and contributors to the IAM Privilege Catalog