GHSA-c92w-72c5-9x59
MEDIUMkube-state-metrics may expose secret content in metrics
EPSS Exploitation Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.
Blast Radius
k8s.io/kube-state-metricsReal-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
A security issue was discovered in the kube-state-metrics versions v1.7.0 and v1.7.1. An experimental feature was added to the v1.7.0 release that enabled annotations to be exposed as metrics. By default, the kube-state-metrics metrics only expose metadata about Secrets. However, a combination of the default kubectl behavior and this new feature can cause the entire secret content to end up in metric labels thus inadvertently exposing the secret content in metrics. This feature has been reverted and released as the v1.7.2 release. If you are running the v1.7.0 or v1.7.1 release, please upgrade to the v1.7.2 release as soon as possible.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐹Go | k8s.io/kube-state-metrics | ≥ 1.7.0&&< 1.7.2 | 1.7.2 |
Research use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for k8s.io/kube-state-metrics. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.
Fix
Update k8s.io/kube-state-metrics to 1.7.2 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-c92w-72c5-9x59 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 pinpoints whether GHSA-c92w-72c5-9x59 is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.
Tailored to GHSA-c92w-72c5-9x59. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-c92w-72c5-9x59 in your dependencies?
O3 detects GHSA-c92w-72c5-9x59 across Go dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.