CVE-2026-73137: Multicloud-operators-subscription: multicloud-operators-subscription: cross-namespace secret exfiltration via helmrelease.repo.secretref.namespace
A flaw was found in the multicloud-operators-subscription component of Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management (RHACM). A tenant with HelmRelease create permissions can exploit this vulnerability by manipulating the secretRef.Namespace field. This allows the GetSecret() function in the HelmRelease controller to fetch sensitive credentials from any namespace, which are then sent to an attacker-controlled Helm repository. This can lead to the exfiltration of credentials from arbitrary namespace Secrets, resulting in information disclosure.
Other sources
A flaw was found in the multicloud-operators-subscription component of Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management (RHACM). The GetSecret() function in the HelmRelease controller honours the user-controlled secretRef.Namespace field, fetching Secrets from any namespace using the controller's cluster-privileged client. The fetched Secret's credentials are then sent as HTTP Basic Auth to an attacker-controlled Helm repository URL. A tenant with HelmRelease create permissions can exfiltrate credentials from arbitrary namespace Secrets.
Upstream repo: https://github.com/stolostron/multicloud-operators-subscription Audited commit: 48ae4defaa5b719e0664e1de7413c96029c938bc Jira tracker: ACM-38560
— Red Hat
Affected Software
Remediation
Recommended actions to resolve this vulnerability, in priority order.
- Upgrade
Upgrade
RHACM multicloud-operators-subscriptionto a version that resolves this vulnerability.Patch ACM-38560 - Compensating control
Restrict tenant permissions so users with HelmRelease create permissions cannot set/manipulate the HelmRelease `secretRef.Namespace` field to reference Secrets in other namespaces (enforce namespace isolation/allow only same-namespace Secret references).
Event History
Frequently Asked Questions
Who can exploit this issue?
A tenant that has permission to create HelmRelease resources can exploit it. The attack can be performed remotely with low complexity and does not require user interaction.
What access is required to obtain credentials from another namespace?
The attacker needs HelmRelease create permissions and an attacker-controlled Helm repository. They can manipulate secretRef.Namespace so the HelmRelease controller retrieves a Secret from another namespace and sends its credentials to that repository.
What is the impact of successful exploitation?
Successful exploitation can disclose sensitive credentials stored in Secrets from arbitrary namespaces. The provided severity vector indicates confidentiality impact is high, while integrity and availability impacts are not identified.