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Fencer Vulns
high 8.8

CVE-2026-22822 json

External Secrets Operator insecurely retrieves secrets through the getSecretKey templating function

published 2026-01-20 9 mo ago modified 2026-07-15 3 mo ago also EUVD-2026-3404 , GHSA-77v3-r3jw-j2v2 , GO-2026-4330

cvss
8.8
version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.2%
EPSS 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 8%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

External Secrets Operator reads information from a third-party service and automatically injects the values as Kubernetes Secrets. Starting in version 0.20.2 and prior to version 1.2.0, the `getSecretKey` template function, while introduced for senhasegura Devops Secrets Management (DSM) provider, has the ability to fetch secrets cross-namespaces with the roleBinding of the external-secrets controller, bypassing our security mechanisms. This function was completely removed in version 1.2.0, as everything done with that templating function can be done in a different way while respecting External Secrets Operator's safeguards As a workaround, use a policy engine such as Kubernetes, Kyverno, Kubewarden, or OPA to prevent the usage of `getSecretKey` in any ExternalSecret resource.

Patch / fix

  • go github.com/external-secrets/external-secrets 1.2.0
  • external-secrets external_secrets_operator 1.2.0
  • govulncheck-vulndb openSUSE Leap 15.6 0.0.20260205T172317-150000.1.146.1

suse advisories SUSE-SU-2026:0403-1

  • govulncheck-vulndb openSUSE Leap 16.0 0.0.20260723T184607-160000.1.1

opensuse advisories openSUSE-SU-2026:21483-1

Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2026-22822 updated cvss 8.8

external-secrets: External Secrets Operator: Cross-Namespace Secret Disclosure via `getSecretKey` Function

  • Red Hat external secrets operator for Red Hat OpenShift - Tech Preview external-secrets-operator/external-secrets-rhel9, external-secrets-operator/bitwarden-sdk-server-rhel9, external-secrets-operator/external-secrets-operator-rhel9, external-secrets-operator/external-secrets-operator-bundle
    affected: workaround, no fix planned “Will not fix”
  • Red Hat External Secrets Operator for Red Hat OpenShift external-secrets-operator/external-secrets-rhel9, external-secrets-operator/bitwarden-sdk-server-rhel9, external-secrets-operator/external-secrets-operator-rhel9, external-secrets-operator/external-secrets-operator-bundle
    not affected: vulnerable code not present

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

CISA SSVC

Exploitation
none
Automatable
no
Technical impact
total
Assessed
9 mo ago

Exploit prediction

0.19% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 8% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
CNA 4.0 9.3 CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:H/SI:H/SA:H
CISA ADP 3.1 8.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
CNA 4.0 9.3 CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:H/SI:H/SA:H/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X
NVD 3.1 8.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
CNA 3.1 8.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

Affected packages

ecosystem package affected fixed in
go github.com/external-secrets/external-secrets
>=0.20.2, <1.2.0
1.2.0

Affected products

  • external-secrets external-secrets
  • Red Hat External Secrets Operator for Red Hat OpenShift
  • Red Hat external secrets operator for Red Hat OpenShift - Tech Preview

Classification

Weakness

References

Sources

Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.

CPEs and fixed versions use Anchore's correction of NVD's data: Added CPE configurations because not yet analyzed by NVD.