External Secrets Operator: Privilege escalation with secret overwriting
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- High
- Impact type
- Security bypass
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- Low · Low · None
- Fix status
- Fixed
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA and GitHub. Impact type from CWE-285.
Summary
External Secrets Operator reads information from a third-party service and automatically injects the values as Kubernetes Secrets. Prior to 2.4.1, a user who only has permission to create ExternalSecret resources can cause the operator to create a Secret that Kubernetes will automatically populate with a long-lived token for the specified service account. This effectively allows the user to impersonate any service account in the namespace without needing direct create permissions on TokenRequest or Secrets of that type. This vulnerability is fixed in 2.4.1.
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 | before 2.4.1 | 2.4.1 | Patch available | CNA |
| — | github.com/external-secrets/external-secrets/apis (Go) | 0.1.0 to before 2.4.1 | 2.4.1 | Patch available | GHSA-fq7h-9x26-6j22 |
- external-secrets Vendorexternal-secrets Affected before 2.4.1 Fixed in 2.4.1 Patch available CNA
- github.com/external-secrets/external-secrets/apis (Go) Vendor— Affected 0.1.0 to before 2.4.1 Fixed in 2.4.1 Patch available GHSA-fq7h-9x26-6j22
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 2.4.1
- Fix · GHSA-fq7h-9x26-6j22 github.com/external-secrets/external-secrets/apis (Go) Fixed in 2.4.1 Advisory →
Vendor assessments
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-42876
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-fq7h-9x26-6j22
- 2026-10-06 Title updated · CNA
- 2026-10-15 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
- 2026-10-15 CVSS score added · Red Hat
References
Other 4
- https://github.com/external-secrets/external-secrets/security/advisories/GHSA-fq7h-9x26-6j22
- https://github.com/external-secrets/external-secrets/commit/4ddd240af7fe88725d9857b9a0c198073502e288
- https://github.com/external-secrets/external-secrets/releases/tag/v2.4.1
- https://github.com/external-secrets/external-secrets
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-2025-38481 External Secrets Operator's BeyondTrust Provider has Insecure Secret Retrieval CVSS 4.0HIGH 8.7
- 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
Sources
- CVE-2026-42876 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-42876 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-fq7h-9x26-6j22 · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2026-42876 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Sources and licences