CVE-2026-42876
MediumWhat is CVE-2026-42876?
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.
CVSS Vector Breakdown
CVSS 3.1Exploitable remotely over the network without requiring access to the local system.
Exploit requires specific conditions, timing, or configuration to succeed.
Basic user account required (e.g. standard login without admin rights).
No user interaction required. Exploit runs without any victim action.
Exploiting the vulnerability can affect other components beyond the vulnerable one.
Some sensitive information is disclosed, but attacker has limited access.
Attacker can modify some data, but scope or consequence is limited.
No availability impact. Service remains fully operational.
FAQ
CVE-2026-42876 has a CVSS score of 4.9/10, rated as Medium. Review the affected products list and apply vendor patches.
CVSS (Common Vulnerability Scoring System) rates vulnerability severity from 0.0 to 10.0. CVE-2026-42876 scores 4.9/10 (Medium). Scores 9.0–10.0 are Critical, 7.0–8.9 are High, 4.0–6.9 are Medium, and below 4.0 are Low.
The list of devices confirmed to be affected by CVE-2026-42876 is shown in the "Affected Devices" section above. Check your firmware version against the vendor security advisory and apply the latest patch.
Apply the latest firmware or software update from the vendor. Check the References section above for official advisories and patch notes. If no patch is available, consider disabling the affected feature or isolating the device from untrusted networks.