CVE-2026-22822 PUBLISHED

External Secrets Operator insecurely retrieves secrets through the getSecretKey templating function

Assigner: GitHub_M
Reserved: 09.01.2026 Published: 21.01.2026 Updated: 22.01.2026

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.

Metrics

CVSS Vector: 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
CVSS Score: 9.3

Product Status

Vendor external-secrets
Product external-secrets
Versions
  • Version >= 0.20.2, < 1.2.0 is affected

References

Problem Types

  • CWE-863: Incorrect Authorization CWE