CVE-2026-59341
A security vulnerability exists in the Sealed Secrets controller's unauthenticated POST endpoints. By submitting a modified payload containi…
A security vulnerability exists in the Sealed Secrets controller's unauthenticated POST endpoints. By submitting a modified payload containing custom Go template logic in spec.template.data, an attacker with internal network access can abuse the handler as a decryption oracle to recover the full plaintext of any sealed secret. The POST /v1/verify and /v1/rotate handlers call Unseal() to decrypt target secrets, then render any Go templates found in spec.template.data.* using the decrypted payload as the evaluation context (pkg/apis/sealedsecrets/v1alpha1/sealedsecret_expansion.go). Errors encountered during template execution are directly reflected in the resulting HTTP response status codes. Missing AEAD label binding: the spec.template.data field is omitted from the AEAD authenticated-data label binding ciphertext to metadata. As a result, an attacker can copy a target's valid metadata and encryptedData verbatim, satisfying AEAD decryption and label validation, while freely replacing spec.template.data with arbitrary template logic. Side-channel oracle: template execution errors map directly to HTTP response codes. HTTP 200 (OK) indicates template execution succeeded; HTTP 409 (Conflict) indicates template execution failed (e.g. via {{ fail "..." }}). By injecting conditional statements such as {{ if eq (substr 0 1 .password) "S" }}ok{{ else }}{{ fail "x" }}{{ end }}, an attacker receives an HTTP 200 status when a character guess is correct and an HTTP 409 when it is incorrect. This differential response leaks one character-equality bit per request, allowing full secret extraction over successive queries. Attack vector & prerequisites: unauthenticated; requires network access to the controller's internal service port (:8080). Although this service is not exposed to the public internet by default, it is accessible to any pod within the Kubernetes cluster or via a kubectl port-forward connection.
Why it matters
- ▸ Remotely exploitable over the network — no physical or local access required
- ▸ High attack complexity — exploitation requires specific conditions
- ▸ Requires high-privilege access first
- ▸ Requires the victim to take an action (e.g. open a file or link)
Apply the vendor patch as soon as it's available or already released. Review and restrict accounts with the privilege level this vulnerability requires. User-awareness training reduces risk here, since exploitation depends on tricking a user into acting.
This analysis is generated from structured CVSS vector data, CISA KEV cross-referencing, and vendor/product category rules — not a manual expert review. Treat it as a starting point, not a substitute for your own assessment.
CVSS Vector Breakdown
EU Vulnerability Database (ENISA)
EUVD is ENISA's EU vulnerability database, still in beta. EPSS is a probabilistic exploitation-likelihood score, not a certainty.
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