CVE-2026-22822
External Secrets Operator insecurely retrieves secrets through the getSecretKey templating function
- State
- Published
- Severity
- 9.3 Critical
- Published
- Jan 21, 2026
- Updated
- Jul 15, 2026
- Reserved
- Jan 9, 2026
Description
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.
Scores
| CVSS | Score | Vector | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4.0 | 9.3 Critical | 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 | GitHub_M |
| 3.1 | 8.8 High | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H | redhat-SADP |
Weaknesses
- CWE-863 Incorrect Authorization
Affected Products
| Product | Versions |
|---|---|
external-secretsexternal-secrets |
|
References
- https://github.com/external-secrets/external-secrets/security/advisories/GHSA-77v3-r3jw-j2v2
- https://github.com/external-secrets/external-secrets/issues/5690
- https://github.com/external-secrets/external-secrets/pull/3895
- https://github.com/external-secrets/external-secrets/commit/17d3e22b8d3fbe339faf8515a95ec06ec92b1feb
- https://github.com/external-secrets/external-secrets/releases/tag/v1.2.0
- https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-22822vdb-entry
- RHBZ#2431873issue-tracking
- https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-22822.json
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