Description

Vault Secrets Operator 1.3.0 up to 1.4.1 is vulnerable to an arbitrary file read and credential exfiltration issue in the AppRole authentication configuration that may allow a tenant with limited Kubernetes RBAC permissions to read files from the operator pod's filesystem and transmit their contents to a tenant-controlled endpoint, potentially leading to privilege escalation within the cluster. This vulnerability (CVE-2026-8715) is fixed in Vault Secrets Operator 1.5.0.

Executive Summary

Technical Details

Mitigations

References

Additional Metadata

{
  "score": "9.6",
  "pubDate": "2026-08-13T21:18:32.333Z",
  "pubdate": "2026-08-13T21:18:32.333Z",
  "executiveSummary": "Vault Secrets Operator versions 1.3.0 up to 1.4.1 are affected by an arbitrary file read and credential exfiltration vulnerability within the AppRole authentication configuration mechanism.\nThe vulnerability allows an authenticated tenant possessing limited Kubernetes RBAC permissions to interact with the operator pod, read arbitrary files from its underlying filesystem, and subsequently transmit the extracted contents to an external, tenant-controlled endpoint.\nThis flaw presents severe risk implications, potentially leading to unauthorized access to sensitive secrets, credentials, or internal configuration data, and may ultimately facilitate privilege escalation within the affected Kubernetes cluster.\nExploitation of this vulnerability requires the attacker to hold limited Kubernetes RBAC permissions as a tenant, enabling them to leverage the AppRole authentication configuration flaws to target the operator pod.",
  "technicalDetails": "The root cause of the vulnerability resides in the AppRole authentication configuration handling within the Vault Secrets Operator, which improperly validates or restricts inputs supplied by tenants.\nThis improper validation allows a tenant with limited Kubernetes RBAC permissions to manipulate configuration parameters processed by the operator pod.\nDuring the attack flow, the privileged operator pod processes crafted tenant requests that reference local files on the operator pod's filesystem.\nBecause file access restrictions are insufficiently enforced within the vulnerable component, the operator reads the requested file contents.\nThe payload behavior then dictates that the operator transmits these sensitive file contents directly to a tenant-controlled endpoint over the network.\nAffected versions include Vault Secrets Operator 1.3.0 up to 1.4.1.\nThe exploitation method leverages the operational trust boundaries between multi-tenant Kubernetes RBAC limitations and the shared operator pod context.\nAuthentication requirements involve the attacker acting as a tenant with limited Kubernetes RBAC permissions capable of interfacing with the Vault Secrets Operator resources.\nThe post-exploitation impact includes unauthorized credential exfiltration and the potential for cascading privilege escalation within the cluster if high-privilege secrets or service account tokens are exposed."
}