GitHub Advisoryadvisory · Go
GHSA-7vww-mvcr-x6vj Traefik Inverted TLS Verification Logic in ingress-nginx Provider
MEDIUM
Official page ↗
- Aliases
- CVE-2025-66491
- Ecosystem
- Go
- Packages
- github.com/traefik/traefik/v3
- Severity
- Moderate
- CVSS vector
- CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
- Weaknesses
- CWE-295
- Reviewed
- 2025-12-08
Affected packages
• Go github.com/traefik/traefik/v3: >= 3.5.0, < 3.6.3 → fixed in 3.6.3
Description
Impact
There is a potential vulnerability in Traefik NGINX provider managing the `nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/proxy-ssl-verify` annotation.
The provider inverts the semantics of the `nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/proxy-ssl-verify` annotation. Setting the annotation to `"on"` (intending to enable backend TLS certificate verification) actually disables verification, allowing man-in-the-middle attacks against HTTPS backends when operators believe they are protected.
Patches
• https://github.com/traefik/traefik/releases/tag/v3.6.3
For more information
If you have any questions or comments about this advisory, please open an issue.
Original Description
Summary
A logic error in Traefik's experimental ingress-nginx provider inverts the semantics of the `nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/proxy-ssl-verify` annotation. Setting the annotation to `"on"` (intending to enable backend TLS certificate verification) actually disables verification, allowing man-in-the-middle attacks against HTTPS backends when operators believe they are protected.
Details
In `pkg/provider/kubernetes/ingress-nginx/kubernetes.go` at line 512, the `InsecureSkipVerify` field is set using inverted logic:
```go
nst := &namedServersTransport{
Name: provider.Normalize(namespace + "-" + name),
ServersTransport: &dynamic.ServersTransport{
ServerName: ptr.Deref(cfg.ProxySSLName, ptr.Deref(cfg.ProxySSLServerName, "")),
InsecureSkipVerify: strings.ToLower(ptr.Deref(cfg.ProxySSLVerify, "off")) == "on",
},
}
```
The expression `== "on"` evaluates to `true` when the annotation is `"on"`, setting `InsecureSkipVerify: true`. In Go's `crypto/tls`, `InsecureSkipVerify: true` means "do not verify the server's certificate" — the opposite of what `proxy-ssl-verify: "on"` should do according to NGINX semantics.
Current behavior:
| Annotation Value | InsecureSkipVerify | Actual Result |
|------------------|-------------------|---------------|
| `"on"` | `true` | Verification disabled ❌ |
| `"off"` (default) | `false` | Verification enabled |
Expected behavior (per NGINX semantics):
| Annotation Value | InsecureSkipVerify | Expected Result |
|------------------|-------------------|-----------------|
| `"on"` | `false` | Verification enabled |
| `"off"` (default) | `true` | Verification disabled |
The test in `pkg/provider/kubernetes/ingress-nginx/kubernetes_test.go` lines 397-403 confirms this inverted behavior is codified as "expected":
```go
ServersTransports: map[string]*dynamic.ServersTransport{
"default-ingress-with-proxy-ssl": {
ServerName: "whoami.localhost",
InsecureSkipVerify: true, // Wrong: should be false when annotation is "on"
RootCAs: []types.FileOrContent{"-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----"},
},
},
```
Affected versions: v3.5.0 through current master (introduced in commit `9bd5c617820f2a8d23b50b68d114bb7bc464eccd`)
Pavel Kohout
Aisle Research
-
Related
Alias · CVE (1)
- CVE-2025-66491 Traefik is an HTTP reverse proxy and load balancer. vulnerability
Weakness · CWE (1)
- CWE-295 Improper Certificate Validation weakness
References
- https://github.com/traefik/traefik/security/advisories/GHSA-7vww-mvcr-x6vj web
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-66491 advisory
- https://github.com/traefik/traefik/commit/14a1aedf5704673d875d210d7bacf103a43c77e4 web
- https://github.com/traefik/traefik package
- https://github.com/traefik/traefik/releases/tag/v3.6.3 web