CVE-2026-7163
Description
A vulnerability in the assisted-service REST API, an optional Assisted Installer (assisted-service) component in the Multicluster Engine (MCE), allows an authenticated user with minimal namespace-scoped privileges to obtain administrative credentials for arbitrary clusters provisioned through the hub.
The credentials download endpoint (GET /v2/clusters/{cluster_id}/credentials, which returns the kubeadmin password) and the kubeconfig download endpoint are operational in AUTH_TYPE=local mode, the only authentication mode available in on-premises ACM/MCE hub deployments. The local authenticator unconditionally grants full administrative access to any request bearing a valid JWT, with no per-endpoint restrictions. A valid local JWT is embedded as a plaintext query parameter in InfraEnvStatus.ISODownloadURL and is readable by any user who has get rights on an InfraEnv object in their own namespace.
The affected components ship as part of Multicluster Engine (MCE). The Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management (ACM) deployments that include MCE are equally affected. This issue does not affect the hosted SaaS offering (console.redhat.com), which uses a different authentication mode.
Successful exploitation gives the attacker the kubeadmin password and kubeconfig for any OpenShift cluster provisioned through the affected hub, granting unrestricted root-level administrative access to those spoke clusters.
Statement
This is an Important vulnerability affecting on-premises deployments of Multicluster Engine (MCE) and Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management (ACM). An authenticated user with namespace-scoped privileges can exploit a flaw in the assisted-service REST API to retrieve administrative credentials for OpenShift clusters provisioned through the hub. This grants unrestricted root-level administrative access to affected spoke clusters, stemming from the AUTH_TYPE=local mode's unconditional administrative access with a valid local JWT, which is exposed in plaintext.
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 | 6.1 | 5.5 | 6.1 |
| Attack Vector | Adjacent Network | Local | Adjacent Network |
| Attack Complexity | Low | Low | Low |
| Privileges Required | Low | Low | Low |
| User Interaction | Required | None | Required |
| Scope | Changed | Unchanged | Changed |
| Confidentiality | High | High | High |
| Integrity Impact | None | None | None |
| Availability Impact | None | None | None |
Vector
Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N
NVD: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
cve.org: CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N
Understanding the Weakness (CWE)
Confidentiality
Technical Impact: Read Application Data
An attacker with access to the system could read sensitive information stored in cleartext (i.e., unencrypted). Even if the information is encoded in a way that is not human-readable, certain techniques could determine which encoding is being used, then decode the information.
Acknowledgements
This issue was discovered by Nick Carboni (Red Hat), Omer Vishlitzky (Red Hat), and Riccardo Piccoli (Red Hat).
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