dbcve.org
Improper AuthorizationWeakness · CWE-285

CVE-2026-42875

MEDIUM · 5.3 CVSS v4.0 Published 2026-05-11
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
59/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable Zero-click

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. Prior to 2.4.0, Namespaced SecretStore resources that used CAProvider with type ConfigMap could resolve CA material from another namespace when caProvider.namespace was set. This bypassed the namespace boundary enforced for SecretStore-backed references in providers that rely on the shared runtime CA resolver. This vulnerability is fixed in 2.4.0.

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 · high confidence

External Secrets Operator prior to 2.4.0 has a namespace isolation bypass in Namespaced SecretStore resources using CAProvider with type ConfigMap. When caProvider.namespace was set, the operator could resolve CA material from another namespace, bypassing the namespace boundary enforcement that SecretStore-backed references should respect.

MitigationUpgrade External Secrets Operator to version 2.4.0 or later to remediate this namespace boundary bypass.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

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
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
Authentication
X
User interaction
None
Scope
X

CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:N/SC:L/SI:L/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Check installed External Secrets Operator version
    Run 'kubectl get deployment -n external-secrets' or 'helm list -n external-secrets' to find the operator version, or check the container image tag
    Affected if Version is prior to 2.4.0
  2. Identify Namespaced SecretStore resources
    Run 'kubectl get secretstores -A' to list all SecretStore resources and note which are Namespaced (not cluster-scoped)
    Affected if Namespaced SecretStore resources exist in the cluster
  3. Check for CAProvider with ConfigMap type
    For each Namespaced SecretStore, run 'kubectl get secretstore <name> -n <namespace> -o yaml' and inspect the spec.caProvider section for type: ConfigMap
    Affected if A SecretStore has spec.caProvider.type set to ConfigMap
  4. Verify caProvider.namespace is configured
    In the SecretStore YAML, check if spec.caProvider.configMap.namespace is set to a value different from the SecretStore's own namespace
    Affected if caProvider.configMap.namespace is set and points to a different namespace than where the SecretStore resides

The environment is affected if External Secrets Operator version is below 2.4.0 AND there exist Namespaced SecretStore resources using CAProvider with ConfigMap type where caProvider.configMap.namespace references a different namespace.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Upgrade External Secrets Operator to version 2.4.0 or later to remediate this namespace boundary bypass.

Recommended fix High confidence

2.4.0

  1. 1. Review the External Secrets Operator upgrade documentation for your installation method (Helm, YAML manifests, etc.)
  2. 2. Back up your current External Secrets Operator deployment configuration and Custom Resource Definitions (CRDs)
  3. 3. If using Helm, run: helm repo update && helm upgrade <release-name> external-secrets/external-secrets --version 2.4.0
  4. 4. If using YAML manifests, apply the manifests from the v2.4.0 release for your installation method
  5. 5. Verify the upgrade was successful by checking that the External Secrets Operator pods are running version 2.4.0
  6. 6. Test that Namespaced SecretStore resources with CAProvider now correctly enforce namespace boundaries

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

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
11.0 hours of engineering $1,920
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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-2026-42875 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What belongs here
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