VulnerabilityPublished 10 Aug 2026Updated 21 Sep 2026

CVE-2026-18608: Red Hat OpenShift AI 2.25 · Execution with Unnecessary Privileges

Affects Red Hat OpenShift AI 2.25Source CVE Database V5

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Not known to be exploited · CVSS 8.7 High.

Data as of 7 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 8 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.

cwe-250

What to do

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

Administrators should immediately review and modify the ClusterRole associated with the Data Science Pipelines Operator (DSPO) to remove unnecessary permissions such as pods/exec, kubeflow.org */*, seldondeployments *, and broad apiGroups:'*'. The ClusterRole should be restricted to only required resources like apps/deployments, services, secrets, configmaps, roles/rolebindings, routes, networkpolicies, servicemonitors, and DSPA/Argo CRDs. After applying these changes, restart the DSPO pod to ensure updated permissions take effect. Careful validation is necessary to avoid impacting operator functionality.

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 allows an attacker who gains access to the DSPO pod to escalate privileges to full administrative control over the Kubernetes cluster. This includes executing arbitrary commands within pods and managing cluster-wide roles and bindings, significantly increasing the blast radius of any initial compromise. The confidentiality and integrity of the cluster are highly impacted, while availability impact is not indicated.

Summary

The Data Science Pipelines Operator (DSPO) in Red Hat OpenShift AI has a ClusterRole with overly broad permissions, such as pods/exec and clusterrolebindings CRUD, which exceed its operational needs. This flaw allows an attacker who compromises the DSPO pod to escalate privileges to full cluster-admin level, enabling control over the entire Kubernetes cluster. The vulnerability is identified as CWE-250 (Execution with Unnecessary Privileges) and has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 8.7 (high severity). The vendor advisory recommends administrators reduce the ClusterRole permissions by removing unnecessary rights and limiting access to only essential resources.

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 10 Aug 2026, 21:14 UTC

Technical details

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