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Multicluster Engine For KubernetesApplication · Redhat

CVE-2026-7163

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-04-30
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
57/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
A vulnerability in the assisted-service REST API, an optional Assisted Installer (assisted-service) component in the Multicluster Engine (MCE), allows an authenticated user with minimal namespace-scoped privileges to obtain administrative credentials for arbitrary clusters provisioned through the hub. The credentials download endpoint (GET /v2/clusters/{cluster_id}/credentials, which returns the kubeadmin password) and the kubeconfig download endpoint are operational in AUTH_TYPE=local mode, the only authentication mode available in on-premises ACM/MCE hub deployments. The local authenticator unconditionally grants full administrative access to any request bearing a valid JWT, with no per-endpoint restrictions. A valid local JWT is embedded as a plaintext query parameter in InfraEnvStatus.ISODownloadURL and is readable by any user who has get rights on an InfraEnv object in their own namespace. The affected components ship as part of Multicluster Engine (MCE). The Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management (ACM) deployments that include MCE are equally affected. This issue does not affect the hosted SaaS offering (console.redhat.com), which uses a different authentication mode. Successful exploitation gives the attacker the kubeadmin password and kubeconfig for any OpenShift cluster provisioned through the affected hub, granting unrestricted root-level administrative access to those spoke clusters.

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

A vulnerability in the assisted-service REST API in Multicluster Engine (MCE) and Advanced Cluster Management (ACM) allows an authenticated user with minimal namespace-scoped privileges to obtain kubeadmin passwords and kubeconfig for arbitrary clusters. In AUTH_TYPE=local mode (the only on-premises authentication), the local authenticator unconditionally grants full administrative access to any request with a valid JWT. This JWT is embedded as a plaintext query parameter in InfraEnvStatus.ISODownloadURL and is readable by any user with GET rights on an InfraEnv object in their own namespace.

MitigationImplement per-endpoint authorization checks in the local authenticator to enforce role-based access control; also remove JWT exposure from ISODownloadURL or require separate authentication for credential endpoints.

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

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
Multicluster Engine For KubernetesApplication
Affected:= 2.1= 2.7

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
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
None
Availability
None

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

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 if local authentication is enabled
    Inspect the authentication configuration for your MCE/ACM deployment and verify if AUTH_TYPE=local is set. This is typically found in the hub cluster's authentication settings or operator configuration.
    Affected if AUTH_TYPE=local is enabled in the environment
  2. Identify InfraEnv resources
    Query for InfraEnv custom resources in your cluster namespaces. Use kubectl or oc to list InfraEnv resources: kubectl get infraenvs -A or oc get infraenvs -A
    Affected if InfraEnv resources exist in any namespace
  3. Inspect InfraEnvStatus for embedded JWT
    Examine the ISODownloadURL field in InfraEnvStatus for any InfraEnv resources. Look for the URL structure - if it contains a JWT token as a query parameter, the field will appear as a long alphanumeric string.
    Affected if The ISODownloadURL field contains an embedded JWT token (a long base64-like string in the URL query parameters)
  4. Verify namespace-level get permissions on InfraEnv
    Review RBAC policies for users and service accounts in the cluster. Check who has get permissions on InfraEnv resources at the namespace level using kubectl auth can-i get infraenvs --as=<user> for various users, or review RoleBindings/ClusterRoleBindings.
    Affected if Users other than cluster administrators have namespace-level get rights on InfraEnv resources

A user is affected if AUTH_TYPE=local is enabled AND InfraEnv resources exist with JWT tokens embedded in ISODownloadURL AND unauthorized users have namespace-level get permissions on those InfraEnvs.

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.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Implement per-endpoint authorization checks in the local authenticator to enforce role-based access control; also remove JWT exposure from ISODownloadURL or require separate authentication for credential endpoints.

Fix this in Multicluster Engine For Kubernetes Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation12.0 h
  • Implementation24.0 h
  • Testing12.0 h
  • Review / QA8.0 h
56.0 hours of engineering $9,960
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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-2026-7163 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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What belongs here
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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