GHSA-r2pg-r6h7-crf3 is a medium-severity (CVSS 6.5) Information Exposure vulnerability in github.com/external-secrets/external-secrets. O3 Security confirms whether GHSA-r2pg-r6h7-crf3 is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
External Secrets Operator has DNS-based secret exfiltration via getHostByName in External Secrets v2 template engine
Real-World Exposure
github.com/external-secrets/external-secrets🐹github.com/external-secrets/external-secretsReal-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
The v2 template engine in runtime/template/v2/template.go imports Sprig’s TxtFuncMap() and removes env and expandenv, but leaves getHostByName available to user-controlled templates. Because ESO executes templates inside the controller process, an attacker who can create or update templated ExternalSecret resources can trigger controller-side DNS lookups using secret-derived values, creating a DNS exfiltration primitive.
Impact
This is a confidentiality issue. In environments where untrusted or lower-trust users can author templated ExternalSecret resources and the controller can perform DNS resolution, fetched secret material can be exfiltrated through DNS without requiring direct outbound access from the attacker’s workload.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐹Go | github.com/external-secrets/external-secrets | all versions | 1.3.3-0.20260331202714-6800989bdc12 |
| 🐹Go | github.com/external-secrets/external-secrets | ≥ 2.0.0 | No fix |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for github.com/external-secrets/external-secrets. 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/external-secrets/external-secrets to 1.3.3-0.20260331202714-6800989bdc12 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-r2pg-r6h7-crf3 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-r2pg-r6h7-crf3 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-r2pg-r6h7-crf3. 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-r2pg-r6h7-crf3 in your dependencies?
O3 detects GHSA-r2pg-r6h7-crf3 across Go dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.