CVE-2026-71846
Description
A flaw was found in insights-client. The component's ServiceAccount is bound to a ClusterRole granting cluster-wide secrets get, list, and watch permissions, while the code only requires access to a single specific Secret. This excessive privilege means that a compromise of the insights-client pod or ServiceAccount token would grant an attacker read access to all Secrets across the hub cluster, including managed-cluster kubeconfigs and other sensitive credentials.
Statement
This is a Moderate flaw in Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes. The insights-client component is granted cluster-wide secrets read access through its ClusterRole, but only requires access to a single Secret (openshift-config/pull-secret). This over-broad RBAC creates a privilege amplification vector: any vulnerability that compromises the insights-client pod or its ServiceAccount token would grant the attacker read access to all Secrets across the hub cluster.
Mitigation
Restrict the insights-client ClusterRole to the minimum required permissions. Replace the cluster-wide secrets get/list/watch with a namespaced Role granting get access only to the specific Secret openshift-config/pull-secret in the openshift-config namespace.
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 | 6.5 | N/A | 6.5 |
| Attack Vector | Local | N/A | Local |
| Attack Complexity | Low | N/A | Low |
| Privileges Required | Low | N/A | Low |
| User Interaction | None | N/A | None |
| Scope | Changed | N/A | Changed |
| Confidentiality | High | N/A | High |
| Integrity Impact | None | N/A | None |
| Availability Impact | None | N/A | None |
Vector
Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N
cve.org: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N
Understanding the Weakness (CWE)
Confidentiality,Integrity,Availability,Access Control
Technical Impact: Gain Privileges or Assume Identity; Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands; Read Application Data; DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart
An attacker will be able to gain access to any resources that are allowed by the extra privileges. Common results include executing code, disabling services, and reading restricted data. New weaknesses can be exposed because running with extra privileges, such as root or Administrator, can disable the normal security checks being performed by the operating system or surrounding environment. Other pre-existing weaknesses can turn into security vulnerabilities if they occur while operating at raised privileges.
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