Unintended Proxy or Intermediary in Elastic Cloud on Kubernetes Leading to Cross-Namespace Secret Disclosure
The Elastic Cloud on Kubernetes (ECK) operator reads a list of secret references from an annotation on secrets it manages, and it accepts the namespace recorded in each reference without validating that the reference is authorized for the resource being reconciled. A user whose Kubernetes permissions are limited to their own namespace can write that annotation, trigger a reconcile, and cause the operator to use its cluster-wide secret permissions to copy the contents of a secret from any other namespace into a secret the user can read.
Affected Versions:
- All Elastic Cloud on Kubernetes versions up to and including 3.4.1
Affected Configurations:
- All configurations are affected.
Solutions and Mitigations:
The issue is resolved in Elastic Cloud on Kubernetes version 3.5.0
For Users that Cannot Upgrade:
There are no workarounds for this vulnerability.
Indicators of Compromise (IOC)
No specific indicators of compromise have been identified for this vulnerability.
Severity: CVSSv3.1: Medium ( 6.5 ) - CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
CVE ID: CVE-2026-72640
Problem Type: CWE-441 - Unintended Proxy or Intermediary ('Confused Deputy')