Vulnerability Description
Aiven Operator allows you to provision and manage Aiven Services from your Kubernetes cluster. From 0.31.0 to before 0.37.0, a developer with create permission on ClickhouseUser CRDs in their own namespace can exfiltrate secrets from any other namespace — production database credentials, API keys, service tokens — with a single kubectl apply. The operator reads the victim's secret using its ClusterRole and writes the password into a new secret in the attacker's namespace. The operator acts as a confused deputy: its ServiceAccount has cluster-wide secret read/write (aiven-operator-role ClusterRole), and it trusts user-supplied namespace values in spec.connInfoSecretSource.namespace without validation. No admission webhook enforces this boundary — the ServiceUser webhook returns nil, and no ClickhouseUser webhook exists. This vulnerability is fixed in 0.37.0.
CVSS Score
MEDIUM
Affected Products
| Vendor | Product | Versions |
|---|---|---|
| Aiven | Aiven Operator | >= 0.31.0, < 0.37.0 |
Related Weaknesses (CWE)
References
- https://github.com/aiven/aiven-operator/commit/032c9ba63257fdd2fddfb7f73f71830e3Patch
- https://github.com/aiven/aiven-operator/releases/tag/v0.37.0ProductRelease Notes
- https://github.com/aiven/aiven-operator/security/advisories/GHSA-99j8-wv67-4c72Vendor Advisory
FAQ
What is CVE-2026-39961?
CVE-2026-39961 is a vulnerability with a CVSS score of 6.8 (MEDIUM). Aiven Operator allows you to provision and manage Aiven Services from your Kubernetes cluster. From 0.31.0 to before 0.37.0, a developer with create permission on ClickhouseUser CRDs in their own name...
How severe is CVE-2026-39961?
CVE-2026-39961 has been rated MEDIUM with a CVSS base score of 6.8/10. Review the CVSS metrics above for detailed severity breakdown.
Is there a patch for CVE-2026-39961?
Check the references section above for vendor advisories and patch information. Affected products include: Aiven Aiven Operator.