CVE-2026-15218: Incorrect Privilege Assignment in Red Hat Red Hat OpenShift AI (RHOAI)
A flaw was found in the maas-api and maas-controller ServiceAccounts within Red Hat OpenShift AI. These ServiceAccounts are granted cluster-wide permissions that exceed their operational requirements. An attacker who compromises the identity of these ServiceAccounts, either through a remote code execution vulnerability or by creating a malicious pod in the same namespace, could exploit these excessive permissions. This could lead to full cluster administrator privileges through the creation of new ClusterRoleBindings or the disclosure of sensitive information by accessing all secrets across the cluster.
AI Analysis
Technical Summary
CVE-2026-15218 describes a security flaw in the maas-api and maas-controller ServiceAccounts within Red Hat OpenShift AI. These ServiceAccounts have cluster-wide permissions exceeding their operational needs. If an attacker compromises these identities, they can exploit the excessive permissions to escalate privileges to cluster-admin by creating new ClusterRoleBindings or disclose sensitive information by accessing all cluster secrets. Exploitation requires prior compromise of a pod or the ability to create pods in the relevant namespaces. The vulnerability is classified under CWE-266 (Incorrect Privilege Assignment) and has a CVSS 3.1 score of 7.9 (High severity).
Potential Impact
Successful exploitation could lead to full cluster administrator privileges or unauthorized disclosure of sensitive cluster-wide secrets. This elevates the attacker's control over the Kubernetes cluster, potentially allowing them to create new ClusterRoleBindings and access all secrets across the cluster. However, exploitation requires prior compromise of a pod or the ability to create pods in the affected namespaces.
Mitigation Recommendations
No official fix or patch is currently confirmed for this vulnerability. Patch status is not yet confirmed — check the Red Hat advisory for current remediation guidance. Mitigation involves restricting the permissions granted to the maas-api and maas-controller ServiceAccounts to the minimum necessary and preventing unauthorized pod creation in the affected namespaces. Monitoring and controlling pod creation privileges can reduce the risk of exploitation.
CVE-2026-15218: Incorrect Privilege Assignment in Red Hat Red Hat OpenShift AI (RHOAI)
Description
A flaw was found in the maas-api and maas-controller ServiceAccounts within Red Hat OpenShift AI. These ServiceAccounts are granted cluster-wide permissions that exceed their operational requirements. An attacker who compromises the identity of these ServiceAccounts, either through a remote code execution vulnerability or by creating a malicious pod in the same namespace, could exploit these excessive permissions. This could lead to full cluster administrator privileges through the creation of new ClusterRoleBindings or the disclosure of sensitive information by accessing all secrets across the cluster.
CVSS v3.1
Score 7.9high
Weaknesses
AI-Powered Analysis
Machine-generated threat intelligence
Technical Analysis
CVE-2026-15218 describes a security flaw in the maas-api and maas-controller ServiceAccounts within Red Hat OpenShift AI. These ServiceAccounts have cluster-wide permissions exceeding their operational needs. If an attacker compromises these identities, they can exploit the excessive permissions to escalate privileges to cluster-admin by creating new ClusterRoleBindings or disclose sensitive information by accessing all cluster secrets. Exploitation requires prior compromise of a pod or the ability to create pods in the relevant namespaces. The vulnerability is classified under CWE-266 (Incorrect Privilege Assignment) and has a CVSS 3.1 score of 7.9 (High severity).
Potential Impact
Successful exploitation could lead to full cluster administrator privileges or unauthorized disclosure of sensitive cluster-wide secrets. This elevates the attacker's control over the Kubernetes cluster, potentially allowing them to create new ClusterRoleBindings and access all secrets across the cluster. However, exploitation requires prior compromise of a pod or the ability to create pods in the affected namespaces.
Mitigation Recommendations
No official fix or patch is currently confirmed for this vulnerability. Patch status is not yet confirmed — check the Red Hat advisory for current remediation guidance. Mitigation involves restricting the permissions granted to the maas-api and maas-controller ServiceAccounts to the minimum necessary and preventing unauthorized pod creation in the affected namespaces. Monitoring and controlling pod creation privileges can reduce the risk of exploitation.
Technical Details
- Gcve Source
- db.gcve.eu
- Osv Id
- GHSA-xpxj-568j-277q
- Osv Schema Version
- 1.4.0
- Aliases
- ["CVE-2026-15218"]
- Ecosystems
- []
- Database Specific Severity
- HIGH
- Cvss Version
- 3.1
Threat ID: 6a833347bf8831d5392a3e3b
Added to database: 08/17/2026, 16:13:59 UTC
Last enriched: 08/17/2026, 16:27:11 UTC
Last updated: 08/17/2026, 22:33:20 UTC
Views: 2
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