Description

A flaw was found in volsync-addon-controller. This vulnerability allows an attacker to inject malicious YAML (Yet Another Markup Language) code into the OpenShift Lifecycle Manager (OLM) Subscription resource. This is due to improper escaping of annotation values when they are rendered into YAML. Successful exploitation could lead to unauthorized modification or control over OLM Subscription configurations, potentially impacting software management within the cluster. This issue primarily affects systems where the 'volsync-addon-deploy-type: olm' annotation is explicitly enabled.

Executive Summary

Technical Details

Mitigations

References

Additional Metadata

{
  "score": "6.2",
  "pubDate": "2026-08-19T18:16:36.080Z",
  "pubdate": "2026-08-19T18:16:36.080Z",
  "executiveSummary": "A YAML injection vulnerability has been identified in the volsync-addon-controller, specifically impacting systems utilizing the OpenShift Lifecycle Manager (OLM) subscription mechanism.\nThe flaw stems from improper escaping of annotation values when they are dynamically rendered into YAML structures.\nAn attacker capable of manipulating specific annotation values can successfully inject malicious YAML code into the generated OpenShift Lifecycle Manager (OLM) Subscription resource.\nSuccessful exploitation of this security defect grants the adversary unauthorized modification and control capabilities over OLM Subscription configurations, directly threatening cluster-level software management integrity.\nThe primary precondition for successful exploitation is that the affected system must have the 'volsync-addon-deploy-type: olm' annotation explicitly enabled.\nThis vulnerability compromises the integrity of declarative Kubernetes configurations, potentially allowing attackers to alter deployment parameters, substitute operator sources, or disrupt cluster extension lifecycles.\nRemediation requires updating the affected volsync-addon-controller component to a version that properly sanitizes and escapes annotation values prior to YAML serialization, or disabling the vulnerable deployment annotation until a patch is applied.",
  "technicalDetails": "The vulnerability resides within the volsync-addon-controller component, specifically in the logic responsible for translating controller annotations into OpenShift Lifecycle Manager (OLM) Subscription resource manifests.\nThe root cause of the flaw is insufficient input validation and a lack of proper contextual escaping for annotation values that are subsequently concatenated or interpolated directly into YAML text templates.\nIn systems where the 'volsync-addon-deploy-type: olm' annotation is explicitly enabled, the controller reads user-supplied or externally influenced annotation values and embeds them into the resulting Kubernetes custom resource without stripping or neutralizing structural YAML characters such as newlines, document separators, or indentation markers.\nThe attack flow proceeds as follows: First, an attacker with permissions to modify or set annotations on targeted resources injects a specially crafted payload containing malicious YAML syntax into an annotation processed by the volsync-addon-controller. Second, the controller retrieves the annotated resource and initiates the rendering process for the OLM Subscription resource. Third, during serialization, the unescaped malicious string breaks out of the intended data field boundary, introducing arbitrary key-value pairs or overriding existing fields within the generated Subscription manifest. Finally, the mutated YAML is applied to the cluster API server.\nBecause OpenShift Lifecycle Manager (OLM) processes these subscription configurations to manage cluster operators, an attacker can manipulate parameters such as the catalog source, channel, starting CSV, or installation strategy.\nThe post-exploitation impact includes unauthorized control over software management workflows, potential escalation of privileges through malicious operator deployments, or denial of service via corrupted subscription states.\nAuthentication and privilege requirements depend on the attacker's ability to inject or modify the specific annotation values read by the controller, typically requiring write access to the targeted Kubernetes resources."
}