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CVE-2025-55196 — external-secrets

Fix: external-secrets/external-secrets@39cdba5

CVE-2025-55196 is a CWE-284 vulnerability in github.com/external-secrets/external-secrets. A fix is available for github.com/external-secrets/external-secrets — see the affected versions and patch details below.

External Secrets Operator Missing Namespace Restriction in PushSecret and SecretStore List() Calls Allows Unauthorized Secret Access

Also known asGHSA-fcxq-v2r3-cc8hGO-2025-3885
Published
Updated
Affected
1 pkg
Patched
1 / 1
Exploits
None indexed
Exploitation data as of Nov 8, 2026 · OSV.dev, NVD, FIRST.org (EPSS)

Exploitation Status

No confirmed exploitation observed yet

  • CISA’s own triage has not observed active exploitation or public proof-of-concept code for this CVE as of its last assessment.

Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2025-55196.

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗
0.4%probability of exploitation in next 30 days
Lower Risk+0.02%
Lower risk than most CVEs34th percentile — riskier than 34% of all scored CVEsHighest risk
0.00%0.30%0.60%0.89%0.1%0.4%May 26Sep 26Nov 26

Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.

Real-World Exposure

1 pkg affected
🐹github.com/external-secrets/external-secrets

Real-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Go packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.

Description

Summary

A vulnerability was discovered in the External Secrets Operator where the List() calls for Kubernetes Secret and SecretStore resources performed by the PushSecret controller did not apply a namespace selector.
This flaw allowed an attacker to use label selectors to list and read secrets/secret-stores across the cluster, bypassing intended namespace restrictions.

Impact

An attacker with the ability to create or update PushSecret resources and control SecretStore configurations could exploit this vulnerability to exfiltrate sensitive data from arbitrary namespaces.
This could lead to full disclosure of Kubernetes secrets, including credentials, tokens, and other sensitive information stored in the cluster.

Exploitability

To exploit this vulnerability, an attacker must:

  1. Have permissions to create or update PushSecret resources.
  2. Control one or more SecretStore resources.

With these conditions met, the attacker could leverage label selectors to list secrets from any namespace and retrieve their contents.

Affected Versions

  • Vulnerable: v0.15.0 – v0.19.1
  • Not Vulnerable: v0.19.2 and later

Fix

The vulnerability was addressed in v0.19.2 by adding namespace restrictions to the List() calls for both PushSecret and SecretStore controllers.
This ensures that only secrets in the intended namespace are accessible.

Relevant fixes:

  • #5133 – Enforce namespace selector for PushSecret List() calls
  • #5109 – Enforce namespace selector for SecretStore List() calls

Mitigation

If upgrading to v0.19.2 or later is not immediately possible, the following mitigations are recommended:

  • Restrict RBAC permissions so that only trusted service accounts can create or update PushSecret and SecretStore resources.
  • Audit existing PushSecret and SecretStore resources to ensure they are controlled by trusted parties.
  • Review Network Policies to prevent data exfiltration

Credit

This vulnerability was reported by @gracedo and @moolen

Affected Packages

1 total 1 fixed
EcosystemPackageVulnerable rangeFix
🐹Gogithub.com/external-secrets/external-secrets≥ 0.15.0&&< 0.19.20.19.2go get github.com/external-secrets/external-secrets@v0.19.2

Detection & mitigation playbook

Open-source dependency

  1. Detect

    Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for github.com/external-secrets/external-secrets, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.

  2. Fix

    Update github.com/external-secrets/external-secrets to 0.19.2 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2025-55196 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

  3. Workarounds

    Put an independent control in front of the weakness: restrict the affected endpoint or interface to trusted networks, require an additional authentication factor or proxy-level check, and invalidate existing sessions and credentials in case the flaw has already been used.

Frequently Asked Questions

## Summary A vulnerability was discovered in the External Secrets Operator where the `List()` calls for Kubernetes Secret and SecretStore resources performed by the `PushSecret` controller did not apply a namespace selector. This flaw allowed an attacker to use label selectors to list and read secrets/secret-stores across the cluster, bypassing intended namespace restrictions. --- ## Impact An attacker with the ability to create or update `PushSecret` resources and control `SecretStore` configurations could exploit this vulnerability to exfiltrate sensitive data from arbitrary namespaces.
O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

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CVE-2025-55196: external-secrets — Fixed in 0.19.2