External Secrets Operator's BeyondTrust Provider has Insecure Secret Retrieval
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Attack requirements
- None
- Impact type
- Security bypass
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- High · None · None
- Fix status
- Fixed
Attack profile from CVSS 4.0 · CNA. Fix status from CNA. Impact type from CWE-284.
Summary
External Secrets Operator reads information from a third-party service and automatically injects the values as Kubernetes Secrets. A vulnerability was discovered in the BeyondTrust provider implementation for External Secrets Operator versions 0.10.1 through 0.19.2. The provider previously retrieved Kubernetes secrets directly, without validating the namespace context or the type of secret store. This allowed unauthorized cross-namespace secret access, violating security boundaries and potentially exposing sensitive credentials. In version 0.20.0, the provider code was updated to use the `resolvers.SecretKeyRef` utility, which enforces namespace validation and only allows cross-namespace access for `ClusterSecretStore` types. This ensures secrets are only retrieved from the correct namespace, mitigating the risk of unauthorized access. All users should upgrade to the latest version containing this fix. As a workaround, use a policy engine such as Kyverno or OPA to prevent using BeyondTrust provider and/or validate the `(Cluster)SecretStore` and ensure the namespace may only be set when using a `ClusterSecretStore`.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- None
- Automatable
- No
- Technical impact
- Partial
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| external-secrets | external-secrets | 0.10.1 to before 0.20.0 | 0.20.0 | Patch available | CNA |
- external-secrets Vendorexternal-secrets Affected 0.10.1 to before 0.20.0 Fixed in 0.20.0 Patch available CNA
CPE names Threatist (inferred) · 1
Inferred from how NVD named this product before; not given by a source.
| CPE | Versions | Role | Vendor |
|---|---|---|---|
| cpe:2.3:a:external-secrets:external_secrets_operator:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | — | — | external-secrets |
- cpe:2.3:a:external-secrets:external_secrets_operator:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions — — ·external-secrets
Remediation
- Fix · CNA external-secrets (external-secrets) Fixed in 0.20.0
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2025-62159
References
More external-secrets vulnerabilities
- TI-2024-30153 External Secrets Operator vulnerable to privilege escalation CVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
- TI-2024-24309 Insecure permissions in external-secrets v0.9.16 allows attackers to access sensitive… CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
- TI-2026-18338 External Secrets Operator insecurely retrieves secrets through the getSecretKey templating function CVSS 4.0CRITICAL 9.3
- TI-2026-31081 External Secrets Operator: Namespace Isolation Bypass in CAProvider ConfigMap Resolution for SecretStore CVSS 4.0MEDIUM 5.3
- TI-2026-68477 External Secrets Operator webhook generator skips label enforcement CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.1
- TI-2026-27206 External Secrets Operator has DNS exfiltration via getHostByName in its v2 template engine CVSS 4.0HIGH 7.1
Sources
This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Sources and licences