CVE-2026-71846: Execution with Unnecessary Privileges in Red Hat Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.11
CVE-2026-71846 is a moderate severity vulnerability in Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.11. The insights-client component's ServiceAccount is granted cluster-wide read permissions on all Secrets, although it only requires access to a single specific Secret. This excessive privilege could allow an attacker who compromises the insights-client pod or its ServiceAccount token to read all Secrets across the hub cluster, including sensitive credentials such as managed-cluster kubeconfigs.
AI Analysis
Technical Summary
The vulnerability arises from the insights-client component in Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.11 having a ClusterRole that grants cluster-wide get, list, and watch permissions on Secrets. However, the component only needs access to one specific Secret (openshift-config/pull-secret). This over-broad Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) creates a privilege amplification vector, enabling an attacker who compromises the insights-client pod or ServiceAccount token to read all Secrets in the hub cluster, potentially exposing sensitive credentials and kubeconfigs.
Potential Impact
An attacker who gains control over the insights-client pod or its ServiceAccount token can read all Secrets across the Kubernetes hub cluster. This includes sensitive information such as managed-cluster kubeconfigs and other credentials, leading to potential confidentiality breaches. The vulnerability does not impact integrity or availability but poses a high confidentiality risk.
Mitigation Recommendations
Red Hat recommends restricting the insights-client ClusterRole to the minimum required permissions. Specifically, replace the cluster-wide secrets get, list, and watch permissions with a namespaced Role that grants get access only to the specific Secret openshift-config/pull-secret in the openshift-config namespace. This reduces the privilege scope and mitigates the risk of privilege amplification.
CVE-2026-71846: Execution with Unnecessary Privileges in Red Hat Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.11
Description
CVE-2026-71846 is a moderate severity vulnerability in Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.11. The insights-client component's ServiceAccount is granted cluster-wide read permissions on all Secrets, although it only requires access to a single specific Secret. This excessive privilege could allow an attacker who compromises the insights-client pod or its ServiceAccount token to read all Secrets across the hub cluster, including sensitive credentials such as managed-cluster kubeconfigs.
CVSS v3.1
Score 6.5medium
Weaknesses
AI-Powered Analysis
Machine-generated threat intelligence
Technical Analysis
The vulnerability arises from the insights-client component in Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.11 having a ClusterRole that grants cluster-wide get, list, and watch permissions on Secrets. However, the component only needs access to one specific Secret (openshift-config/pull-secret). This over-broad Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) creates a privilege amplification vector, enabling an attacker who compromises the insights-client pod or ServiceAccount token to read all Secrets in the hub cluster, potentially exposing sensitive credentials and kubeconfigs.
Potential Impact
An attacker who gains control over the insights-client pod or its ServiceAccount token can read all Secrets across the Kubernetes hub cluster. This includes sensitive information such as managed-cluster kubeconfigs and other credentials, leading to potential confidentiality breaches. The vulnerability does not impact integrity or availability but poses a high confidentiality risk.
Mitigation Recommendations
Red Hat recommends restricting the insights-client ClusterRole to the minimum required permissions. Specifically, replace the cluster-wide secrets get, list, and watch permissions with a namespaced Role that grants get access only to the specific Secret openshift-config/pull-secret in the openshift-config namespace. This reduces the privilege scope and mitigates the risk of privilege amplification.
Technical Details
- Gcve Source
- db.gcve.eu
- Osv Id
- GHSA-wfwr-qqxc-6cch
- Osv Schema Version
- 1.4.0
- Aliases
- ["CVE-2026-71846"]
- Database Specific Severity
- MODERATE
- Cvss Version
- 3.1
- State
- PUBLISHED
Threat ID: 6a7d12d0bf8831d5396c1745
Added to database: 08/13/2026, 00:41:52 UTC
Last enriched: 09/13/2026, 13:05:01 UTC
Last updated: 09/27/2026, 13:47:47 UTC
Views: 87
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