CVE-2026-88979
Description
A flaw was found in Kubeflow Pipelines. The TensorBoard proxy relies on a publicly known default secret key to sign authentication tokens. In deployments where authorization is disabled, an unauthenticated remote attacker can forge authentication tokens to query internal cluster services on port 80 and read their responses. This vulnerability leads to unauthorized information disclosure from internal network resources.
Statement
This vulnerability is rated as Moderate impact because exploitation requires an authorization-disabled configuration using default signing keys, and the resulting exposure is restricted to read-only queries against specific internal services. In standard Red Hat OpenShift environments, cluster-level authorization and role-based access control are enabled by default, ensuring that namespace validation blocks unauthorized access. Furthermore, built-in validation controls limit destination endpoints and reject directory traversal attempts, preventing broader network access or modification of cluster resources.
Mitigation
To mitigate this flaw:
1. Enable authorization: Configure Kubeflow Pipelines to run with authorization enabled, ensuring that access to target namespaces is verified before requests are proxied.
2. Replace default secrets: Supply a distinct, cryptographically strong value for the MINIO_SECRET_KEY environment variable or Kubernetes Secret rather than leaving the bundled default.
3. Apply network controls: Deploy Kubernetes NetworkPolicies to restrict ingress traffic on port 80 for internal services, limiting connections solely to authorized application components.
Warning: Modifying deployment environment variables or cluster secrets requires recreating or restarting the affected pods, which will cause a brief disruption to active pipeline workloads.
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).
The following CVSS metrics and score provided are preliminary and subject to review.
CVSS v3 Score Breakdown
| Red Hat | NVD | cve.org | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base Score | 5.3 | N/A | 5.8 |
| Attack Vector | Network | N/A | Network |
| Attack Complexity | Low | N/A | Low |
| Privileges Required | None | N/A | None |
| User Interaction | None | N/A | None |
| Scope | Unchanged | N/A | Changed |
| Confidentiality | Low | N/A | Low |
| Integrity Impact | None | N/A | None |
| Availability Impact | None | N/A | None |
Vector
Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N
cve.org: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:N/A:N
Understanding the Weakness (CWE)
Authentication
Technical Impact: Gain Privileges or Assume Identity
If admins do not change the defaults, it is easier for attackers to bypass authentication quickly across multiple organizations.
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