Read the docs
TI-2026-28817 Aliases CVE-2026-39961GHSA-99j8-wv67-4c72

Aiven Operator has cross-namespace secret exfiltration via ClickhouseUser connInfoSecretSource

Priority LOW 30CWE-269Published · Updated

Key facts

Attack vector
Network
Privileges required
High
User interaction
None
Attack complexity
Low
Impact type
Privilege escalation
Confidentiality · integrity · availability
High · None · None
Fix status
Fixed

Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA and GitHub. Impact type from CWE-269.

Summary

Aiven Operator allows you to provision and manage Aiven Services from your Kubernetes cluster. From 0.31.0 to before 0.37.0, a developer with create permission on ClickhouseUser CRDs in their own namespace can exfiltrate secrets from any other namespace — production database credentials, API keys, service tokens — with a single kubectl apply. The operator reads the victim's secret using its ClusterRole and writes the password into a new secret in the attacker's namespace. The operator acts as a confused deputy: its ServiceAccount has cluster-wide secret read/write (aiven-operator-role ClusterRole), and it trusts user-supplied namespace values in spec.connInfoSecretSource.namespace without validation. No admission webhook enforces this boundary — the ServiceUser webhook returns nil, and no ClickhouseUser webhook exists. This vulnerability is fixed in 0.37.0.

Why it matters now

Exploitation None reported CISA SSVC · not in CISA KEV
EPSS 0.00402 34th percentileScored 2026-11-07
Fix Fixed aiven-operator (aiven): 0.37.0github.com/aiven/aiven-operator (Go): 0.37.0

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

VendorProductAffected versionsFixed inStatusSource
Aiven-Openaiven-operatorbefore 0.37.00.37.0Patch availableCNA
—github.com/aiven/aiven-operator (Go)0.31.0 to before 0.37.00.37.0Patch availableGHSA-99j8-wv67-4c72
  • aiven-operator VendorAiven-Open Affected before 0.37.0 Fixed in 0.37.0 Patch available CNA
  • github.com/aiven/aiven-operator (Go) Vendor— Affected 0.31.0 to before 0.37.0 Fixed in 0.37.0 Patch available GHSA-99j8-wv67-4c72

CPE configurations NVD · 1

CPEVersionsRoleVendor
cpe:2.3:a:aiven:aiven_operator:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*0.31.0 to before 0.37.0VulnerableAiven-Open
  • cpe:2.3:a:aiven:aiven_operator:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 0.31.0 to before 0.37.0 Vulnerable ·Aiven-Open

Remediation

  • Fix · CNA aiven-operator (aiven) Fixed in 0.37.0
  • Fix · GHSA-99j8-wv67-4c72 github.com/aiven/aiven-operator (Go) Fixed in 0.37.0 Advisory →

Timeline

  1. 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-39961
  2. 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-99j8-wv67-4c72

References

Patch 1

Advisory 2

Other 2

Sources

This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Sources and licences