VulnerabilityPublished 10 Aug 2026Updated 21 Sep 2026

CVE-2026-18608: CWE-250

Source GCVE Database

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Authoritative record:CVE-2026-18608· High 8.7

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 8.7 High : patch Red Hat OpenShift AI 2.25 soon.

Data as of 10 Nov 2026, 23:24 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

8.7High

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.7% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 53% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: High
User Interaction: None
Scope: Changed
Confidentiality: High
Integrity: High
Availability: None

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed, up to and including the entire Internet. Such a vulnerability is often termed 'remotely exploitable' and can be thought of as an attack being exploitable at the protocol level one or more network hops away (e.g., across one or more routers).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: High: The attacker is authorized with (i.e., requires) privileges that provide significant (e.g., administrative) control over the vulnerable component that could affect component-wide settings and files.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Changed: An exploited vulnerability can affect resources beyond the security scope managed by the security authority of the vulnerable component. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are different and managed by different security authorities.
Confidentiality: High: There is total loss of confidentiality, resulting in all resources within the impacted component being divulged to the attacker. Alternatively, access to only some restricted information is obtained, but the disclosed information presents a direct, serious impact.
Integrity: High: There is a total loss of integrity, or a complete loss of protection. For example, the attacker is able to modify any/all files protected by the impacted component. Alternatively, only some files can be modified, but malicious modification would present a direct, serious consequence to the impacted component.
Availability: None: There is no impact to availability within the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 10 Aug 2026
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponized: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 10 Nov 2026.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponized: A Metasploit exploit module or Exploit-DB entry exists (Metasploit scanner modules do not count), or CISA SSVC or the CVSS exploit maturity reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

ghsa-vh9j-mvrr-922q

What to do

Patches and advisories

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
Red HatRed Hat OpenShift AI 2.25	Affected–	Fixed in–
Red HatRed Hat OpenShift AI 2.25	Affected–	Fixed in–
Red HatRed Hat OpenShift AI 3.3	Affected–	Fixed in–
Red HatRed Hat OpenShift AI 3.4	Affected–	Fixed in–
Red HatRed Hat OpenShift AI 3.4	Affected–	Fixed in–
Red HatRed Hat OpenShift AI 3.5	Affected–	Fixed in–

AI-suggested

Red Hat has issued security advisories for Red Hat OpenShift AI that include this vulnerability and recommends upgrading to the latest available versions following their official documentation. Although no explicit patch or fix is stated for CVE-2026-18608 alone, users should apply the updated images and follow Red Hat's upgrade instructions to mitigate the risk.

Description

A flaw was found in the Data Science Pipelines Operator (DSPO). The operator's ClusterRole, which defines its permissions, includes extensive privileges beyond what is necessary for its operation. These excessive permissions, such as the ability to execute commands within pods and manage cluster-wide roles, could be exploited. If the DSPO pod were compromised, an attacker could leverage these privileges to gain full administrative control over the entire Kubernetes cluster.

Impact

If exploited, this vulnerability could allow an attacker who gains control of the DSPO pod to leverage its excessive permissions to execute arbitrary commands within pods and manage cluster-wide roles, effectively gaining full administrative control over the entire Kubernetes cluster. This could lead to complete compromise of cluster resources and data confidentiality and integrity loss. The CVSS score of 8.7 indicates a high impact on confidentiality and integrity with no impact on availability.

Summary

CVE-2026-18608 describes a security flaw in the Data Science Pipelines Operator (DSPO) where the operator's ClusterRole includes excessive privileges such as executing commands inside pods and managing cluster-wide roles. This over-privileging violates the principle of least privilege and could allow an attacker who compromises the DSPO pod to escalate privileges and gain full administrative control over the Kubernetes cluster. The vulnerability is rated high severity with a CVSS 3.1 score of 8.7 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N). Red Hat's advisories for Red Hat OpenShift AI mention this CVE among others and provide updated container images and instructions for upgrading the cluster. However, the advisories do not explicitly confirm a patch or fix specifically for this CVE at this time, advising users to follow upgrade documentation for full remediation.

CWE-250Execution with Unnecessary Privileges (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessLikelihood of exploit: Medium
The product performs an operation at a privilege level that is higher than the minimum level required, which creates new weaknesses or amplifies the consequences of other weaknesses.
Architecture and Design · Operation · Environment Hardening
Run your code using the lowest privileges that are required to accomplish the necessary tasks. If possible, create isolated accounts with limited privileges that are only used for a single task. That way, a successful attack will not immediately give the attacker access to the rest of the software or its environment.
Architecture and Design · Separation of Privilege
Identify the functionality that requires additional privileges, such as access to privileged operating system resources. Wrap and centralize this functionality if possible, and isolate the privileged code as much as possible from other code.
Architecture and Design · Attack Surface Reduction
Identify the functionality that requires additional privileges, such as access to privileged operating system resources. Wrap and centralize this functionality if possible, and isolate the privileged code as much as possible from other code.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Docker Security (opens in a new tab)
Vulnerable Dependency Management (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V1.14.5 (opens in a new tab)
V1.2.1 (opens in a new tab)
V14.2.6 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
Cross Zone Scripting (opens in a new tab)
Expanding Control over the Operating System from the Database (opens in a new tab)
Target Programs with Elevated Privileges (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Patches and advisories

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 12 Aug 2026, 17:32 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-250

Technical details

References

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