LiveActive security incident?Get immediate response
CVE Record

CVE-2026-71470: Acm-search-v2-rhel9: search-v2-operator: search cr imageoverride/arguments/envvar flow unsanitized into pods running impersonating sa

A flaw was found in the search-v2-operator. This vulnerability allows a privileged user, specifically a Custom Resource (CR) editor, to manipulate Search CR fields such as imageOverride, arguments, and environment variables without proper validation. By exploiting this, an attacker can mount arbitrary secrets into a search container's environment or replace the container image with an attacker-controlled one. This leads to privilege escalation and can result in a full cluster compromise due to the ServiceAccount's extensive impersonation permissions.

CriticalCVSS 9.1Not KEV-listedUpdated
Discuss exposureBack to CVEs
Glexia's TakeAutomated analysiscritical

Security readout for executives and security teams

Plain-English summary

A privileged user or compromised account able to edit Search custom resources can make the operator expose secrets or run an attacker-controlled container image. Because the affected service account has broad impersonation permissions, compromise could expand across the Kubernetes cluster. This is not described as an unauthenticated attack, but its potential impact is cluster-wide.

Executive priority

Treat this as an urgent privileged-escalation issue for affected ACM clusters. Prioritize remediation where Search CR editing is broadly delegated or credentials may be exposed. Patch using the applicable Red Hat advisory, tighten RBAC immediately, and investigate suspicious configuration changes because successful abuse could compromise the entire cluster.

Technical view

The search-v2-operator insufficiently validates Search CR fields including imageOverride, arguments, and environment variables. A CR editor can influence generated pods, inject secrets into container environments, or replace the container image. The resulting workload inherits a service account with extensive impersonation permissions, enabling privilege escalation and potentially full cluster compromise. CVSS 3.1 is 9.1 with high privileges required and changed scope.

Likely exposure

Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.11 and 2.13 through 2.17 installations using the listed rhacm2/acm-search-v2-rhel9 builds are affected. Practical exposure depends on who can edit Search custom resources. Clusters granting this capability to unnecessary users, automation accounts, or compromised credentials face the greatest risk.

Exploitation context

The attacker must already possess high privileges sufficient to edit the relevant Search custom resource. Exploitation requires no user interaction and may cross security boundaries through the operator-created pod and its service account. The bundle says the CVE is not in KEV and provides no cited evidence of active exploitation.

Researcher notes

CWE-913 reflects improper control of dynamically managed code resources. The trust-boundary failure is between user-editable Search CR data and privileged pod construction. Review admission and reconciliation paths for validation of images, arguments, environment variables, secret references, and service-account assignment. The supplied material does not identify public proof-of-concept activity or specific fixed build numbers.

Mitigation direction

  • Apply the Red Hat security advisory update corresponding to the deployed ACM release.
  • Confirm fixed package or image versions in Red Hat guidance before deployment.
  • Restrict Search custom-resource editing to strictly necessary administrators and service accounts.
  • Temporarily monitor or block unapproved changes to imageOverride, arguments, and environment variables.
  • Rotate exposed secrets if suspicious Search resource or pod modifications are discovered.

Validation and detection

  • Inventory ACM releases and rhacm2/acm-search-v2-rhel9 package or image builds across clusters.
  • Compare installed builds with the applicable Red Hat advisory's fixed versions.
  • Audit RBAC bindings for users and service accounts permitted to edit Search resources.
  • Review Search resources for unexpected imageOverride, arguments, environment variables, or secret references.
  • Inspect operator-created pods for unapproved images, configuration changes, and service-account use.
  • After updating, verify the operator rejects or safely handles unauthorized field manipulation.
Prepared
Confidence
high
Sources
10

Public sources used

Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.

Potential ATT&CK relevance

Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context

These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.

ATT&CK lookup starting points

Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.

cwe · low confidence lookup

CWE-913: Exact CWE lookup

Use the exact CWE identifier as the starting point before reviewing related ATT&CK behavior. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.

Open ATT&CK lookup
description · low confidence lookup

Privilege behavior lookup

The CVE wording references privilege impact, so privilege escalation and authorization behavior review may help. This is a Glexia inferred lookup path, not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, or CVE Program mapping.

Open ATT&CK lookup
description · low confidence lookup

Container behavior lookup

The affected technology mentions containers, so container-specific ATT&CK technique review may help. This is a Glexia inferred lookup path, not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, or CVE Program mapping.

Open ATT&CK lookup
cve · low confidence lookup

CVE-2026-71470 mapping review

Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.

Open ATT&CK lookup
Vulnerability profileCVE Program record
Severity
Critical
CVSS
9.1 (3.1)
Known Exploited
No
Published

Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

Official CVE source material

CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5

These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.

1CVSS vectors
5Timeline events
1ADP providers
9Source links

SSVC decision data

CISA-ADPCISA Coordinator
Timestamp
Version
2.0.3
Exploitation: noneAutomatable: noTechnical Impact: total

CVSS vector scores

1 official score

We collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.

ScoreVersionSeverityVectorExploitImpactSource
9.1CVSS 3.1CriticalCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H2.36redhat

Vulnerability scoring details

Base CVSS 3.1 score

9.1Critical
CVSS 3.1 vector shape for CVE-2026-71470Attack VectorAttack ComplexityPrivileges RequiredUser InteractionScopeConfidentiality ImpactIntegrity ImpactAvailability Impact

Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

Attack Vector
NetworkAdjacentLocalPhysical
Attack Complexity
LowHigh
Privileges Required
NoneLowHigh
User Interaction
NoneRequired
Scope
ChangedUnchanged
Confidentiality Impact
HighLowNone
Integrity Impact
HighLowNone
Availability Impact
HighLowNone

Vulnerability timeline

Timeline events are normalized from CVE metadata, CNA source timelines, ADP timelines, and KEV metadata when present.

  1. Source timelineredhat

    Reported to Red Hat.

  2. CVE reservedCVE Program

    The CVE ID was reserved by the assigning CNA.

  3. Source timelineredhat

    Made public.

  4. CVE publishedCVE Program

    The CVE record was published.

  5. CVE updatedCVE Program

    The CVE record metadata indicates this as the latest update time.

ADP provider summaries

CISA-ADPCISA ADP Vulnrichment
other:ssvc

Source materials

Affected products

Products and packages named in the record

VendorProductVersion / packageStatus
Red HatRed Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.11rhacm2/acm-search-v2-rhel9, 1787688827affected
Red HatRed Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.13rhacm2/acm-search-v2-rhel9, 1787682112affected
Red HatRed Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.14rhacm2/acm-search-v2-rhel9, 1787682033affected
Red HatRed Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.15rhacm2/acm-search-v2-rhel9, 1787681674affected
Red HatRed Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.16rhacm2/acm-search-v2-rhel9, 1787681686affected
Red HatRed Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.17rhacm2/acm-search-v2-rhel9, 1787681651affected
Weakness

CWE details

CWE-913

CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.

CWE-913 · source CWE mapping

Improper Control of Dynamically-Managed Code Resources

Improper Control of Dynamically-Managed Code Resources represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.

Open CWE intelligenceSame-CWE CVEs