CVE-2025-28381 is a vulnerability identified in OpenC3 COSMOS version 6.0.0, involving a credential leak where service credentials are exposed as environment variables within all containers managed by the platform. OpenC3 COSMOS is a container orchestration and management system designed to deploy and operate containerized applications. The vulnerability arises because sensitive service credentials, which should be securely stored and isolated, are instead accessible as environment variables in every container instance. This exposure allows an attacker who gains access to any container to retrieve these credentials, potentially enabling lateral movement within the environment, unauthorized access to services, and escalation of privileges. The vulnerability does not specify affected versions beyond 6.0.0, but the issue is inherent to this release. No CVSS score has been assigned yet, and no public exploits are known at this time. The absence of authentication or user interaction requirements is not explicitly stated, but the nature of environment variable exposure implies that an attacker must first compromise a container to extract credentials. This vulnerability impacts confidentiality primarily, as it leaks sensitive credentials, but also threatens integrity and availability if attackers leverage these credentials to manipulate or disrupt services. The scope includes all containers managed by OpenC3 COSMOS v6.0.0, potentially affecting any organization using this platform for container orchestration.

For European organizations using OpenC3 COSMOS v6.0.0, this vulnerability poses a significant risk to the confidentiality of service credentials, which can lead to unauthorized access to critical internal services and infrastructure. Attackers exploiting this flaw could move laterally across containerized environments, escalate privileges, and potentially disrupt operations or exfiltrate sensitive data. Given the widespread adoption of container technologies in sectors such as finance, manufacturing, telecommunications, and government services across Europe, the impact could be severe, especially in environments where sensitive data or critical infrastructure is containerized. The leak of credentials may also facilitate supply chain attacks or compromise of cloud services integrated with OpenC3 COSMOS. The lack of known exploits currently limits immediate risk, but the vulnerability's nature makes it a high-value target for attackers once exploit code becomes available. Organizations with compliance obligations under GDPR and other data protection regulations may face legal and reputational consequences if breaches occur due to this vulnerability.

1. Immediate mitigation should include auditing all container environments managed by OpenC3 COSMOS v6.0.0 to identify exposure of service credentials in environment variables. 2. Restrict container access controls to minimize the risk of unauthorized container compromise, employing strict role-based access control (RBAC) and network segmentation. 3. Rotate all service credentials that may have been exposed, and implement short-lived credentials or secrets management solutions that avoid storing sensitive information in environment variables. 4. Monitor container logs and network traffic for unusual access patterns indicative of lateral movement or credential misuse. 5. Engage with the OpenC3 COSMOS vendor or community to obtain patches or updates addressing this vulnerability as soon as they become available. 6. Consider deploying runtime security tools that detect and prevent unauthorized access to environment variables within containers. 7. Implement container image scanning and security best practices to reduce the attack surface. 8. Educate DevOps and security teams about the risks of credential exposure in container environments and enforce policies to avoid embedding secrets in environment variables.