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High, CVSS 7.1amended

External Secrets Operator: label enforcement bypass in webhook generator enables secret exfiltration

CVE-2026-26287GHSA-q7hv-xx6h-q2x8

What to do

Vendor fix available. Upgrade each affected package to the fixed version on its release line (github.com/external-secrets/external-secrets 1.3.2), redeploy, then verify what is actually installed.

This page has no inventory attached, so it cannot say whether you are affected. A vendor fix is not proof that your deployment is fixed.

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Affected packages

Sources

Severity and exploitation
Exploitation
No confirmed exploitation recorded. Patch Next marks exploitation only from CISA KEV.
CVSS
7.1 · CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:L/A:N
EPSS
  • CVE-2026-26287: 0.24% estimated exploitation activity in the next 30 days; percentile 15.73 (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-03). This is a model estimate, not proof of exploitation or customer exposure.
Source description

As published by the source; long descriptions are shortened.

Summary A bug in the webhook generator initialization order incorrectly cleared the label-enforcement flag (EnforceLabels) after it was set, resulting in the provider-side check for external-secrets.io/type=webhook being skipped (and the operation to succeed while it should have failed with secret does not contain needed label 'external-secrets.io/type: webhook'. Update secret label to use it with webhook. Impact A user with the permission to create webhook generator can set the webhook generator to a victim' secret (which was not previously labelled for webhook's use), and exfiltrate it to a malicious URL. Mitigations Until you upgrade, you can reduce risk by: - disabling webhook generators if not needed (or denying generators.external-secrets.io/v1alpha1 Webhook via an admission policy); - restricting RBAC: limit who can create generators of kind Webhook; - enforcing an admission policy (OPA Gatekeeper / Kyverno) requiring referenced secrets to be labeled…

Dates and revisions
Published by the source
Last modified by the source
Source last checked
  1. Revision 3 · amended ·

    Amended from ghsa record GHSA-q7hv-xx6h-q2x8

  2. Revision 2 · amended ·

    Amended from osv record GO-2026-6667

  3. Revision 1 · created ·

    Published from osv record GHSA-q7hv-xx6h-q2x8

Agent brief

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# Patch Next advisory brief: CVE-2026-26287

Advisory: External Secrets Operator: label enforcement bypass in webhook generator enables secret exfiltration
IDs: CVE-2026-26287, GHSA-q7hv-xx6h-q2x8
Record: https://patchnext.com/advisories/cve-2026-26287 (revision 3, source checked 26 Oct 2026, 15:29 UTC)
Inventory: none attached. This brief comes from a public page and does not say whether any deployment is affected.
Severity: High (CVSS 7.1)
Exploitation: no confirmed exploitation recorded. Patch Next confirms exploitation only from CISA KEV.
Vendor response: Vendor fix available; fixed versions by package: github.com/external-secrets/external-secrets 1.3.2. A vendor fix does not mean a deployment is fixed.

## Affected components
- Go github.com/external-secrets/external-secrets: affected >= 0.10.0, < 1.3.2; fixed in 1.3.2

## Suggested inspection (read-only)
- Go github.com/external-secrets/external-secrets: check the installed version with your package manager.

## Supported action
Upgrade each affected component to a fixed version on its release line. For a transitive dependency, upgrade the parent package or add an override or constraint, then regenerate the lockfile. Redeploy every environment that ran an affected version.

## Required regression checks
- Run the test suite and a production build.
- Exercise the features that depend on github.com/external-secrets/external-secrets.
- Repeat the inspection and confirm that only fixed versions remain installed.

## Rollback considerations
- Keep the previous lockfile and deployment artifact. Rolling back reinstates the vulnerable version, so apply any documented mitigation while you fix forward.

## Unresolved questions
- Which deployments run an affected version?
- Exploitation status can change. Check again before lowering the priority.
- Mark the work resolved only after the fixed version is verified in production.

## Sources
- Verified: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/GO-2026-6667 (OSV record GO-2026-6667 lists affected ranges: Go github.com/external-secrets/external-secrets >=0.10.0 <1.3.2 (fixed))
- Verified: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/GHSA-q7hv-xx6h-q2x8 (OSV record GHSA-q7hv-xx6h-q2x8 lists affected ranges: Go github.com/external-secrets/external-secrets >=0.10.0 <1.3.2 (fixed))
- Verified: https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-q7hv-xx6h-q2x8 (GitHub-reviewed advisory GHSA-q7hv-xx6h-q2x8 lists affected ranges: Go github.com/external-secrets/external-secrets >=0.10.0 <1.3.2)

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