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OpenChoreo: cluster-gateway internal proxy performs no caller authentication and is not read-only — data-plane Secret disclosure and arbitrary Kubernetes mutation

Critical severity GitHub Reviewed Published Jul 27, 2026 in openchoreo/openchoreo • Updated Sep 4, 2026

Package

gomod github.com/openchoreo/openchoreo (Go)

Affected versions

< 1.0.3
>= 1.1.0, < 1.1.3
>= 1.2.0-rc.1, < 1.2.0-rc.2

Patched versions

1.0.3
1.1.3
1.2.0

Description

Summary

The OpenChoreo control-plane cluster-gateway exposes internal management APIs (/api/proxy/, /api/exec/, /api/wirelogs/) that tunnel requests through to connected data planes' Kubernetes APIs, but the internal listener authenticates no caller. Its request validator permits mutating HTTP methods and reads of Secrets in tenant namespaces (only kube-system Secrets are blocked), so although the client library documents these requests as "read-only," the server enforces no such restriction. Any party able to reach the internal listener can — with no client certificate or token — read Secrets in any tenant namespace, create/modify/delete workloads, and exec into pods across every connected data plane.

Impact

An attacker with network access to the cluster-gateway internal listener obtains tunneled access to every connected data plane's Kubernetes API with no caller-level access control. Across all connected data planes, this allows:

  • Secret disclosure — reading any Secret outside kube-system in any tenant namespace (database credentials, cloud/KMS keys, TLS private keys), independent of any workload ServiceAccount permissions.
  • Workload tampering or destruction — creating, modifying, or deleting Deployments, Services, and other resources.
  • Pod command execution inside workload pods via /api/exec/.

This is also the missing second authorization layer behind GHSA-52gf-6rpq-fgmx (the openchoreo-api exec/wirelogs cross-project authorization bypass): because the gateway provides no compensating authorization, that bypass — and any other authz gap or SSRF that reaches the internal API — reaches the data-plane Kubernetes API unchecked.

Direct exploitability depends on the network isolation of the internal listener, which is not fixed in source. Where the internal port is reachable by untrusted workloads with no restrictive NetworkPolicy — and with impact landing in a separate data-plane cluster — this is Critical; it is scored conservatively as High otherwise.

Patches

Fixed in 1.0.3, 1.1.3, and 1.2.0. Upgrade path: 1.1.x → 1.1.2, 1.0.x and earlier → 1.0.2, 1.2.0-rc1 line → 1.2.0.

References

@mevan-karu mevan-karu published to openchoreo/openchoreo Jul 27, 2026
Published by the National Vulnerability Database Aug 13, 2026
Published to the GitHub Advisory Database Sep 4, 2026
Reviewed Sep 4, 2026
Last updated Sep 4, 2026

Severity

Critical

CVSS overall score

This score calculates overall vulnerability severity from 0 to 10 and is based on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS).
/ 10

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector
Adjacent
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector: More severe the more the remote (logically and physically) an attacker can be in order to exploit the vulnerability.
Attack complexity: More severe for the least complex attacks.
Privileges required: More severe if no privileges are required.
User interaction: More severe when no user interaction is required.
Scope: More severe when a scope change occurs, e.g. one vulnerable component impacts resources in components beyond its security scope.
Confidentiality: More severe when loss of data confidentiality is highest, measuring the level of data access available to an unauthorized user.
Integrity: More severe when loss of data integrity is the highest, measuring the consequence of data modification possible by an unauthorized user.
Availability: More severe when the loss of impacted component availability is highest.
CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

EPSS score

Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS)

This score estimates the probability of this vulnerability being exploited within the next 30 days. Data provided by FIRST.
(18th percentile)

Weaknesses

Improper Privilege Management

The product does not properly assign, modify, track, or check privileges for an actor, creating an unintended sphere of control for that actor. Learn more on MITRE.

Missing Authentication for Critical Function

The product does not perform any authentication for functionality that requires a provable user identity or consumes a significant amount of resources. Learn more on MITRE.

Missing Authorization

The product does not perform an authorization check when an actor attempts to access a resource or perform an action. Learn more on MITRE.

CVE ID

CVE-2026-73842

GHSA ID

GHSA-rh53-xvx2-j327

Source code

Credits

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