OpenTelemetry Operator: ServiceMonitor bearerTokenFile reads arbitrary local file and sends contents as bearer auth
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- Information disclosure
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- High · None · None
- Fix status
- Partial Red Hat: 1 without a fix
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA, GitHub and Red Hat. Impact type from CWE-200.
Summary
The OpenTelemetry Operator is a Kubernetes Operator for the OpenTelemetry Collector. Prior to 0.152.0, cmd/otel-allocator TargetAllocator instances with targetAllocator.prometheusCR.enabled set to true preserve a selected ServiceMonitor endpoint's bearerTokenFile value as HTTPClientConfig.Authorization.CredentialsFile. A tenant who can create or update a ServiceMonitor matched by serviceMonitorSelector and serviceMonitorNamespaceSelector can point bearerTokenFile at a file in the Collector pod, including /var/run/secrets/kubernetes.io/serviceaccount/token, and direct scraping to a tenant-controlled endpoint. The Collector reads that file at scrape time and sends its contents as bearer authorization on every scrape interval. Exploitation also requires the Collector service-account token or another sensitive file to be mounted and the Collector to reach the chosen target. The DenyFSAccessThroughSMs control was absent, allowing disclosure of the Collector's service-account JWT or other mounted files, and resulting Kubernetes API impact is limited by the Collector service account's permissions. This issue is fixed in version 0.152.0.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| open-telemetry | opentelemetry-operator | before 0.152.0 | 0.152.0 | Patch available | CNA |
| — | github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-operator (Go) | before 0.152.0 | 0.152.0 | Patch available | GHSA-cxh2-4639-vmc5 |
- opentelemetry-operator Vendoropen-telemetry Affected before 0.152.0 Fixed in 0.152.0 Patch available CNA
- github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-operator (Go) Vendor— Affected before 0.152.0 Fixed in 0.152.0 Patch available GHSA-cxh2-4639-vmc5
Remediation
- Fix · CNA opentelemetry-operator (open-telemetry) Fixed in 0.152.0
- Fix · GHSA-cxh2-4639-vmc5 github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-operator (Go) Fixed in 0.152.0 Advisory →
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Important. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
| Product | Status | Plan or fix |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2 | Affected | No fix planned: Will not fix |
Not affected: 1 product
- Red Hat OpenShift distributed tracing 3
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-47701
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-cxh2-4639-vmc5
References
Other 5
- https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-operator/security/advisories/GHSA-cxh2-4639-vmc5
- https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-operator/pull/5104
- https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-operator/commit/95a8c2a3dc64a762d3ab8eba8c903b5702a03a9c
- https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-operator/releases/tag/v0.152.0
- https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-operator
More open-telemetry vulnerabilities
- TI-2024-23957 OpenTelemetry Collector has a Denial of Service via Zip/Decompression Bomb sent over HTTP or gRPC CVSS 3.1HIGH 8.2
- TI-2026-42706 OpenTelemetry JavaScript: Denial of service in `JaegerPropagator` via unhandled exception on a malformed header CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
- TI-2026-33428 OpenTelemetry eBPF Instrumentation: Memcached payload length overflow can crash OBI CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
- TI-2026-33427 OpenTelemetry eBPF Instrumentation: MongoDB parser panics on malformed wire messages CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
- TI-2026-33420 OpenTelemetry eBPF Instrumentation: Postgres BIND parsing can panic on malformed payloads CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
- TI-2026-32777 opentelemetry-js: Prometheus exporter process crash via malformed HTTP request CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
Sources
- CVE-2026-47701 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-47701 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-cxh2-4639-vmc5 · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2026-47701 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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