Unintended Proxy or Intermediary in Elastic Cloud on Kubernetes Leading to Cross-Namespace Secret Disclosure
Summary
| CVE | CVE-2026-72640 |
|---|---|
| State | PUBLISHED |
| Assigner | elastic |
| Source Priority | CVE Program / NVD first with legacy fallback |
| Published | 2026-08-13 20:17:24 UTC |
| Updated | 2026-08-13 21:18:09 UTC |
| Description | The Elastic Cloud on Kubernetes (ECK) operator reads a list of secret references from an annotation on secrets it manages, and it accepts the namespace recorded in each reference without validating that the reference is authorized for the resource being reconciled. A user whose Kubernetes permissions are limited to their own namespace can write that annotation, trigger a reconcile, and cause the operator to use its cluster-wide secret permissions to copy the contents of a secret from any other namespace into a secret the user can read. |
Risk And Classification
Primary CVSS: v3.1 6.5 MEDIUM from [email protected]
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
EPSS: 0.002480000 probability, percentile 0.163660000 (date 2026-08-15)
Problem Types: CWE-441 | CWE-441 CWE-441 Unintended Proxy or Intermediary ('Confused Deputy')
| Version | Source | Type | Score | Severity | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.1 | [email protected] | Secondary | 6.5 | MEDIUM | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N |
| 3.1 | CNA | CVSS | 6.5 | MEDIUM | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N |
CVSS v3.1 Breakdown
Attack Vector
NetworkAttack Complexity
LowPrivileges Required
LowUser Interaction
NoneScope
UnchangedConfidentiality
HighIntegrity
NoneAvailability
NoneCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
Vendor Declared Affected Products
| Source | Vendor | Product | Version | Platforms |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CNA | Elastic | Eck Operator | affected 3.0.0 3.4.1 semver | Not specified |
References
| Reference | Source | Link | Tags |
|---|---|---|---|
| discuss.elastic.co/t/elastic-cloud-on-kubernetes-3-5-0-security-update-esa-2026-... | [email protected] | discuss.elastic.co | |
| CVE Program record | CVE.ORG | www.cve.org | canonical |
| NVD vulnerability detail | NVD | nvd.nist.gov | canonical, analysis |
No vendor comments have been submitted for this CVE.
There are currently no legacy QID mappings associated with this CVE.