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Critical 9.3Published Jan 21, 2026

CVE-2026-22822External Secrets Operator insecurely retrieves secrets through the getSecretKey templating function

Updated under an hour ago ()

Does this affect you?

It affects external-secrets and 2 other products. Add what you run to find out whether that includes you.

No exploitation reported and no EPSS estimate yet.

External Secrets Operator reads information from a third-party service and automatically injects the values as Kubernetes Secrets. Starting in version 0.20.2 and prior to version 1.2.0, the `getSecretKey` template function, while introduced for senhasegura Devops Secrets Management (DSM) provider, has the ability to fetch secrets cross-namespaces with the roleBinding of the external-secrets controller, bypassing our security mechanisms. This function was completely removed in version 1.2.0, as everything done with that templating function can be done in a different way while respecting External Secrets Operator's safeguards As a workaround, use a policy engine such as Kubernetes, Kyverno, Kubewarden, or OPA to prevent the usage of `getSecretKey` in any ExternalSecret resource.

CVSS
9.3 CRITICAL (v4.0, CNA)CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:H/SI:H/SA:H
Weakness (CWE)
CWE-863
Known exploited
Not in CISA's KEV catalog
EPSS (exploitation in the next 30 days)
Not loaded for this CVE
Assigned by
GitHub_M
NVD analysis
Modified
Record last updated
Jul 14, 2026
First seen by InfoSec Signals
Oct 9, 2026

Affected products

Affected products
external-secrets external-secrets
external_secrets:external_secrets (from the name)
from 0.20.2, < 1.2.0
CNA record
1
CISA ADP
external-secrets external_secrets_operator
external-secrets:external_secrets_operator
from 0.20.2 before 1.2.0
NVD

References

References

The CVE record is authoritative. Products marked “from the name” were identified from the CNA's free-text names, not a CPE, and are matched less certainly. This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD.

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