CVE-2026-72640

Unintended Proxy or Intermediary in Elastic Cloud on Kubernetes Leading to Cross-Namespace Secret Disclosure

Published Aug 13, 2026 CVSS 3.1 · 6.5 Medium EPSS < 1% KEV · Not listed
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.

Remediation

No solution or workaround provided in the CVE record

Tracking

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Advisories

No advisories available
History
Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Elastic elastic Cloud On Kubernetes
CPEs cpe:2.3:a:elastic:elastic_cloud_on_kubernetes:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
Vendors & Products Elastic elastic Cloud On Kubernetes
Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Elastic
Elastic eck Operator
Vendors & Products Elastic
Elastic eck Operator
Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'no', 'Exploitation': 'none', 'Technical Impact': 'partial'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}

Type Values Removed Values Added
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.
Title Unintended Proxy or Intermediary in Elastic Cloud on Kubernetes Leading to Cross-Namespace Secret Disclosure
Weaknesses CWE-441
References
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 6.5, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N'}

Weaknesses

Sources

Status
PUBLISHED
Assigner
elastic
Published
Updated
Aug 13, 2026, 8:28 PM
Reserved
Aug 10, 2026, 11:17 AM
Status
Analyzed
Published
Aug 13, 2026, 8:17 PM
Modified
Sep 3, 2026, 6:54 PM