CVE-2026-42876
Published:May 11, 2026
Updated:May 16, 2026
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.
Affected Packages
https://github.com/external-secrets/external-secrets.git (GITHUB):
Affected version(s) >=v0.1.0 <v2.4.1Fix Suggestion:
Update to version v2.4.1github.com/external-secrets/external-secrets (GO):
Affected version(s) >=v0.1.0 <v2.4.1Fix Suggestion:
Update to version v2.4.1Related Resources (5)
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Contact UsCVSS v4
Base Score:
2.3
Attack Vector
NETWORK
Attack Complexity
HIGH
Attack Requirements
NONE
Privileges Required
LOW
User Interaction
NONE
Vulnerable System Confidentiality
LOW
Vulnerable System Integrity
LOW
Vulnerable System Availability
NONE
Subsequent System Confidentiality
LOW
Subsequent System Integrity
LOW
Subsequent System Availability
NONE
CVSS v3
Base Score:
4.9
Attack Vector
NETWORK
Attack Complexity
HIGH
Privileges Required
LOW
User Interaction
NONE
Scope
CHANGED
Confidentiality
LOW
Integrity
LOW
Availability
NONE
Weakness Type (CWE)
Improper Authorization
EPSS
Base Score:
0.02