GHSA-c98h-7hp9-v9hq
MEDIUMBare Metal Operator (BMO) can expose any secret from other namespaces via BMCEventSubscription CRD
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
github.com/metal3-io/baremetal-operator/apis🐹github.com/metal3-io/baremetal-operator/apisReal-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
Impact
The Bare Metal Operator (BMO) implements a Kubernetes API for managing bare metal hosts in Metal3.
Baremetal Operator enables users to load Secret from arbitrary namespaces upon deployment of the namespace scoped Custom Resource BMCEventSubscription (BMCES). An adversary Kubernetes account with only namespace level roles (e.g. a tenant controlling a namespace) may create a BMCES in their authorized namespace and then load Secrets from their unauthorized namespaces to their authorized namespace via the Baremetal Operator controller's cluster scoped privileges, causing Secret leakage.
Patches
The patch makes BMO refuse to read Secrets from other namespace than where the corresponding Bare Metal Host (BMH) resource is. The patch does not change the BMCEventSubscription API in BMO, but stricter validation will deny the request at admission time. It will also prevent the controller reading such Secrets, in case the BMCES resource has already been deployed.
The issue exists for all versions of BMO, and is patched in BMO releases v0.9.1 and v0.8.1. Prior upgrading to patched BMO version, duplicate any existing Secret pointed to by BMCEventSubscription's httpHeadersRef to the same namespace where the corresponding BMH exists. After upgrade, remove the old Secrets.
Workarounds
Operator can configure BMO RBAC to be namespace scoped, instead of cluster scoped, to prevent BMO from accessing Secrets from other namespaces, and/or use WATCH_NAMESPACE configuration option to limit BMO to single namespace.
References
Credits
Metal3 Security Team thanks WHALEEYE and debuggerchen of Lab for Internet and Security Technology for responsible vulnerability disclosure.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐹Go | github.com/metal3-io/baremetal-operator/apis | ≥ 0.9.0&&< 0.9.1 | 0.9.1 |
| 🐹Go | github.com/metal3-io/baremetal-operator/apis | all versions | 0.8.1 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for github.com/metal3-io/baremetal-operator/apis. 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 github.com/metal3-io/baremetal-operator/apis to 0.9.1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-c98h-7hp9-v9hq 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-c98h-7hp9-v9hq 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-c98h-7hp9-v9hq. 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-c98h-7hp9-v9hq in your dependencies?
O3 detects GHSA-c98h-7hp9-v9hq across Go dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.