CVE-2026-18620
Description
A flaw was found in Data Science Pipelines. A restricted user, or tenant, can exploit an improper authorization vulnerability in the setDefaultServiceAccount function. By specifying a more privileged ServiceAccount (SA) during a CreateRun request, an attacker can bypass authorization checks. This allows the tenant to run their containers with elevated privileges, potentially leading to the disclosure of sensitive information (secrets) and the ability to execute commands within other users' pods.
Statement
This Moderate severity flaw in Red Hat OpenShift AI allows a restricted tenant to execute workflow pods with elevated privileges. By manipulating the service_account field in a CreateRun request, an attacker can bypass authorization checks and utilize more privileged ServiceAccounts, potentially leading to unauthorized access to secrets and execution within co-tenant pods. This risk arises from the API server's failure to perform a SubjectAccessReview for the requested ServiceAccount.
Mitigation
To mitigate this issue, operators of Red Hat OpenShift AI should configure an allow-list for ServiceAccounts that tenants can specify in their workflow run requests. Restricting the available ServiceAccounts to a predefined, least-privileged set, such as the default `pipeline-runner` only, will prevent unauthorized privilege escalation. This configuration change should be applied to the API server responsible for processing workflow run requests. New workflow runs will respect the updated configuration.
Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Score Details
Info alert:Important note
CVSS scores for open source components depend on vendor-specific factors (e.g. version or build chain). Therefore, Red Hat's score and impact rating can be different from NVD and other vendors. Red Hat remains the authoritative CVE Naming Authority (CNA) source for its products and services (see Red Hat classifications).
CVSS v3 Score Breakdown
| Red Hat | NVD | cve.org | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base Score | 7.1 | N/A | 7.1 |
| Attack Vector | Network | N/A | Network |
| Attack Complexity | Low | N/A | Low |
| Privileges Required | Low | N/A | Low |
| User Interaction | None | N/A | None |
| Scope | Unchanged | N/A | Unchanged |
| Confidentiality | High | N/A | High |
| Integrity Impact | Low | N/A | Low |
| Availability Impact | None | N/A | None |
Vector
Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:L/A:N
cve.org: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:L/A:N
Understanding the Weakness (CWE)
Access Control
Technical Impact: Bypass Protection Mechanism
Access control checks for specific user data or functionality can be bypassed.
Access Control
Technical Impact: Gain Privileges or Assume Identity
Horizontal escalation of privilege is possible (one user can view/modify information of another user).
Access Control
Technical Impact: Gain Privileges or Assume Identity
Vertical escalation of privilege is possible if the user-controlled key is actually a flag that indicates administrator status, allowing the attacker to gain administrative access.
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