external-secrets up to 0.19.1 access control

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, was found in external-secrets up to 0.19.1. This vulnerability affects unknown code. The manipulation results in access control. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2025-55196. It is possible to launch the attack remotely. No exploit is available. You should upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, was found in external-secrets up to 0.19.1. Affected is some unknown functionality. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a access control vulnerability. CWE is classifying the issue as CWE-284. The product does not restrict or incorrectly restricts access to a resource from an unauthorized actor. This is going to have an impact on confidentiality. CVE summarizes:

External Secrets Operator is a Kubernetes operator that integrates external secret management systems. From version 0.15.0 to before 0.19.2, a vulnerability was discovered where the List() calls for Kubernetes Secret and SecretStore resources performed by the PushSecret controller did not apply a namespace selector. This flaw allowed an attacker to use label selectors to list and read secrets/secret-stores across the cluster, bypassing intended namespace restrictions. An attacker with the ability to create or update PushSecret resources and control SecretStore configurations could exploit this vulnerability to exfiltrate sensitive data from arbitrary namespaces. This could lead to full disclosure of Kubernetes secrets, including credentials, tokens, and other sensitive information stored in the cluster. This vulnerability has been patched in version 0.19.2. A workaround for this issue includes auditing and restricting RBAC permissions so that only trusted service accounts can create or update PushSecret and SecretStore resources.

The advisory is available at github.com. This vulnerability is traded as CVE-2025-55196 since 08/08/2025. The exploitability is told to be easy. It is possible to launch the attack remotely. The technical details are unknown and an exploit is not available. This vulnerability is assigned to T1068 by the MITRE ATT&CK project.

Upgrading to version 0.19.2 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 39cdba5863533007b582dc63dd300839326b2f1d is able to eliminate this problem. The bugfix is ready for download at github.com. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version.

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Productinfo

Name

• external-secrets

Version

• 0.19.0
• 0.19.1

License

• open-source

Website

• Product: https://github.com/external-secrets/external-secrets/

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