CVE-2026-72640

Unintended Proxy or Intermediary in Elastic Cloud on Kubernetes Leading to Cross-Namespace Secret Disclosure

MEDIUM
6.5
CVSS Score
Published: August 13, 2026 at 07:13 PM UTC
Updated: September 3, 2026 at 07:14 PM UTC
1 product affected across 1 vendorElastic Cloud on Kubernetes

Using Eck Operator by Elastic?

Get instant alerts when new vulnerabilities affect Eck Operator - before attackers find them.

Real-time alertsTrack your software stackFree plan available
Severity
MEDIUM6.5
Exploit prediction
EPSS 0.4%
SSVC
No known exploit

Description

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

Our own answer: ranges merged, affected separated from platform-only, with confidence and review flags.

v < 3.5.03.0.0 ≤ v ≤ 3.4.13.0.0
Affected range stops below 3.5.0, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement

Remediation

No guide yet

No remediation guidance has been written for this CVE yet. What the record does show:

SSVC — Action Prioritization

SSVCNo known exploitNot automatablePartial impact

SSVC signals action urgency (what to patch first), separate from CVSS which measures severity.

CVSS

6.5MEDIUMelastic
Attack Vector
NETWORK
Complexity
LOW
Privileges
LOW
User Interaction
NONE
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality
HIGH
Integrity
NONE
Availability
NONE
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusANALYZED
CWE
CWE-441

Get alerted

Stop reading CVE feeds looking for your own stack

Track the products you run and VulnTracker tells you when a new CVE affects them — with what is known about fixing it, and nothing about the rest.

Free plan, no card