woodpecker-ci Woodpecker up to 3.15.x Kubernetes Backend backend_options.go backend_options.kubernetes.serviceAccountName privileges management

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in woodpecker-ci Woodpecker up to 3.15.x. It has been classified as critical. Impacted is an unknown function of the file pipeline/backend/kubernetes/backend_options.go of the component Kubernetes Backend. The manipulation of the argument backend_options.kubernetes.serviceAccountName leads to privileges management. This vulnerability is referenced as CVE-2026-61549. Remote exploitation of the attack is possible. No exploit is available. Upgrading the affected component is recommended.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, has been found in woodpecker-ci Woodpecker up to 3.15.x. This issue affects an unknown code block of the file pipeline/backend/kubernetes/backend_options.go of the component Kubernetes Backend. The manipulation of the argument backend_options.kubernetes.serviceAccountName with an unknown input leads to a privileges management vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-269. The product does not properly assign, modify, track, or check privileges for an actor, creating an unintended sphere of control for that actor. Impacted is confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

Woodpecker is a CI/CD engine. From 1.0.0 until 3.16.0, pipeline/backend/kubernetes/backend_options.go defines backend_options.kubernetes.serviceAccountName, and the Kubernetes backend in pipeline/backend/kubernetes/pod.go copies that pipeline-step value directly into the pod specification without administrator authorization. Any user with Push permission on a connected repository can therefore run pipeline pods under an arbitrary ServiceAccount in the pipeline namespace and inherit that account's RBAC permissions. When a privileged ServiceAccount is reachable, the attacker can exfiltrate secrets such as database credentials, API keys, and TLS certificates and may take over the cluster. This issue is fixed in version 3.16.0.

It is possible to read the advisory at github.com. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2026-61549 since 07/10/2026. The exploitation is known to be easy. The attack may be initiated remotely. Technical details of the vulnerability are known, but there is no available exploit. The attack technique deployed by this issue is T1068 according to MITRE ATT&CK.

Upgrading to version 3.16.0 eliminates this vulnerability.

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Productinfo

Vendor

• woodpecker-ci

Name

• Woodpecker

Version

• 3.0
• 3.1
• 3.2
• 3.3
• 3.4
• 3.5
• 3.6
• 3.7
• 3.8
• 3.9
• 3.10
• 3.11
• 3.12
• 3.13
• 3.14
• 3.15

Website

• Product: https://github.com/woodpecker-ci/woodpecker/

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