GitHub Advisoryadvisory · Go

GHSA-r2pg-r6h7-crf3 External Secrets Operator has DNS-based secret exfiltration via getHostByName in External Secrets v2 template engine

HIGH Published 2026-04-13 Modified 2026-04-28 Official page ↗
Aliases
CVE-2026-34984
Ecosystem
Go
Packages
github.com/external-secrets/external-secrets
Severity
High
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
Weaknesses
CWE-200
Reviewed
2026-04-13

Affected packages

• Go github.com/external-secrets/external-secrets: < 1.3.3-0.20260331202714-6800989bdc12 → fixed in 1.3.3-0.20260331202714-6800989bdc12 • Go github.com/external-secrets/external-secrets: >= 2.0.0, <= 2.2.0 (no fix yet)

Description

Summary The v2 template engine in `runtime/template/v2/template.go` imports Sprig’s `TxtFuncMap()` and removes `env` and `expandenv`, but leaves `getHostByName` available to user-controlled templates. Because ESO executes templates inside the controller process, an attacker who can create or update templated ExternalSecret resources can trigger controller-side DNS lookups using secret-derived values, creating a DNS exfiltration primitive. Impact This is a confidentiality issue. In environments where untrusted or lower-trust users can author templated ExternalSecret resources and the controller can perform DNS resolution, fetched secret material can be exfiltrated through DNS without requiring direct outbound access from the attacker’s workload.

Related

Alias · CVE (1)

  • CVE-2026-34984 External Secrets Operator reads information from a third-party service and automatically injects the values as Kubernetes Secrets. vulnerability

Weakness · CWE (1)

  • CWE-200 Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor weakness

References