{"id":"CVE-2026-42876","title":"external-secrets-operator: External Secrets Operator: Privilege escalation via ExternalSecret resource creation (CVE-2026-42876)","summary":"A flaw was found in External Secrets Operator. A user with permissions to create ExternalSecret resources can trick the operator into creating a Kubernetes Secret that automatically contains a long-lived token for a specified service accou…","severity":"high","cvss":8.1,"cvssVector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N","cvssSource":"vendor","cwe":["CWE-285"],"vendor":"Red Hat","product":"external-secrets","affected":["external-secrets < 2.4.1"],"published":"2026-05-11","updated":"2026-10-14","sourceUpdated":"2026-10-14T10:00:33+00:00","source":"CSAF","sourceUrl":"https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-42876.json","references":[{"url":"https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-42876.json"},{"url":"https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-42876"},{"url":"https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-42876"},{"url":"https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-42876"},{"url":"https://github.com/external-secrets/external-secrets/commit/4ddd240af7fe88725d9857b9a0c198073502e288"},{"url":"https://github.com/external-secrets/external-secrets/releases/tag/v2.4.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/external-secrets/external-secrets/security/advisories/GHSA-fq7h-9x26-6j22"}],"tags":["csaf","vex","red-hat","cve.org","score-dispute"],"epss":0.00215,"epssPercentile":0.11768,"ssvc":{"exploitation":"none","automatable":"no","technicalImpact":"partial","timestamp":"2026-05-12T13:26:08.541848Z"},"scores":{"vendor":8.1,"cna":4.9},"ingestedAt":"2026-10-06T16:04:04.485Z","slug":"CVE-2026-42876","body":"## Overview\n\nA flaw was found in External Secrets Operator. A user with permissions to create ExternalSecret resources can trick the operator into creating a Kubernetes Secret that automatically contains a long-lived token for a specified service account. This allows the user to impersonate any service account within the same namespace, bypassing direct permissions for token or secret creation. This vulnerability leads to privilege escalation.\n\n## Vendor advisories\n\n- **Red Hat VEX** · updated 2026-10-14 · [vex](https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-42876.json)\n\n**external-secrets-operator: External Secrets Operator: Privilege escalation via ExternalSecret resource creation**. Released 2026-05-11, updated 2026-10-14.\n\nNot affected:\n\n- All currently supported Red Hat products\n\n## Remediation\n\nRefer to the advisory for fix availability.","depth":"twilight","depthScore":45,"depthScoreParts":{"impact":44.6,"likelihood":0,"exploitation":0,"ransomware":0},"changes":[{"seq":220011,"id":"CVE-2026-42876","ts":1791978454197,"field":"cvss","old":"4.9","new":"8.1"},{"seq":220010,"id":"CVE-2026-42876","ts":1791978454197,"field":"severity","old":"medium","new":"high"}]}