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External Secrets OperatorApplication · External Secrets

CVE-2026-22822

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-01-21
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 1.2.0 or later.
See remediation →
90/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Zero-click Patch available

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
External Secrets Operator reads information from a third-party service and automatically injects the values as Kubernetes Secrets. Starting in version 0.20.2 and prior to version 1.2.0, the `getSecretKey` template function, while introduced for senhasegura Devops Secrets Management (DSM) provider, has the ability to fetch secrets cross-namespaces with the roleBinding of the external-secrets controller, bypassing our security mechanisms. This function was completely removed in version 1.2.0, as everything done with that templating function can be done in a different way while respecting External Secrets Operator's safeguards As a workaround, use a policy engine such as Kubernetes, Kyverno, Kubewarden, or OPA to prevent the usage of `getSecretKey` in any ExternalSecret resource.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis
How this class of weakness works · CWE-863

An authorization check exists but is flawed, so it passes when it should fail. Attackers probe roles and object references to find the gap. Remediation means centralising and correctly implementing the access-control logic, then testing it against every role.

General guidance for the incorrect authorization class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
External Secrets OperatorApplication
Affected:>= 0.20.2, < 1.2.0

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

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

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 1.2.0 or later
Fixed in 1.2.0
Vendor patch github.com →
Recommended fix High confidence

1.2.0 or later

  1. Identify the current External Secrets Operator version using: kubectl get deployment -n external-secrets -o jsonpath='{.items[*].spec.template.spec.containers[0].image}'
  2. Backup all ExternalSecret custom resources: kubectl get externalsecrets -A -o yaml > externalsecrets-backup.yaml
  3. Plan for application downtime or rolling update of the External Secrets Operator
  4. Upgrade External Secrets Operator to version 1.2.0 or later. If using Helm: helm upgrade external-secrets external-secrets/external-secrets --version 1.2.0 -n external-secrets
  5. If using raw manifests, apply the new manifests from the v1.2.0 release
  6. Verify the upgrade: kubectl get pods -n external-secrets and ensure pods are running the new version
  7. Review ExternalSecret resources to ensure no templates use the removed getSecretKey function; if they do, refactor to use alternative methods as noted in the 1.2.0 release notes
  8. Test that secrets are being fetched correctly after the upgrade
Caveat The getSecretKey templating function is completely removed; any ExternalSecret templates using it must be refactored to use alternative methods supported in 1.2.0

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

We can perform the upgrade in your staging environment and verify nothing breaks — typical engagement from $1,950. Get the upgrade done

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2026-22822 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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