external-secrets up to 2.4.0 improper authorization

CVSS Meta Temp Score
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Current Exploit Price (≈)
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CTI Interest Score
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5.5$0-$5k0.00

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability marked as critical has been reported in external-secrets up to 2.4.0. The impacted element is an unknown function. The manipulation leads to improper authorization. This vulnerability is referenced as CVE-2026-42876. Remote exploitation of the attack is possible. No exploit is available. It is suggested to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, has been found in external-secrets up to 2.4.0. This issue affects an unknown code. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a improper authorization vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-285. The product does not perform or incorrectly performs an authorization check when an actor attempts to access a resource or perform an action. Impacted is confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

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.

The advisory is shared at github.com. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2026-42876 since 04/30/2026. The exploitation is known to be easy. The attack may be initiated remotely. Neither technical details nor an exploit are publicly available. MITRE ATT&CK project uses the attack technique T1548.002 for this issue.

Upgrading to version 2.4.1 eliminates this vulnerability. The upgrade is hosted for download at github.com. Applying the patch 4ddd240af7fe88725d9857b9a0c198073502e288 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.

If you want to get the best quality for vulnerability data then you always have to consider VulDB.

Productinfo

Name

Version

License

Website

CPE 2.3info

CPE 2.2info

CVSSv4info

VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv3info

VulDB Meta Base Score: 5.6
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 5.5

VulDB Base Score: 6.3
VulDB Temp Score: 6.0
VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CNA Base Score: 4.9
CNA Vector (GitHub_M): 🔒

CVSSv2info

AVACAuCIA
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VectorComplexityAuthenticationConfidentialityIntegrityAvailability
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VulDB Base Score: 🔒
VulDB Temp Score: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

Exploitinginfo

Class: Improper authorization
CWE: CWE-285 / CWE-266
CAPEC: 🔒
ATT&CK: 🔒

Physical: No
Local: No
Remote: Yes

Availability: 🔒
Status: Not defined

EPSS Score: 🔒
EPSS Percentile: 🔒

Price Prediction: 🔍
Current Price Estimation: 🔒

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Threat Intelligenceinfo

Interest: 🔍
Active Actors: 🔍
Active APT Groups: 🔍

Countermeasuresinfo

Recommended: Upgrade
Status: 🔍

0-Day Time: 🔒

Upgrade: external-secrets 2.4.1
Patch: 4ddd240af7fe88725d9857b9a0c198073502e288

Timelineinfo

04/30/2026 CVE reserved
05/12/2026 +12 days Advisory disclosed
05/12/2026 +0 days VulDB entry created
05/12/2026 +0 days VulDB entry last update

Sourcesinfo

Product: github.com

Advisory: GHSA-fq7h-9x26-6j22
Status: Confirmed

CVE: CVE-2026-42876 (🔒)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2026-42876
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-362765

Entryinfo

Created: 05/12/2026 03:46
Changes: 05/12/2026 03:46 (66)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216::103

If you want to get the best quality for vulnerability data then you always have to consider VulDB.

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