CVE-2026-22822: External Secrets Operator insecurely retrieves secrets through the getSecretKey templating function

Severity: high (CVSS 8.8 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.2% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2026-01-21 · updated 2026-07-15
Weakness: CWE-863

Description

External Secrets Operator reads information from a third-party service and automatically injects the values as Kubernetes Secrets. Starting in version 0.20.2 and prior to version 1.2.0, the `getSecretKey` template function, while introduced for senhasegura Devops Secrets Management (DSM) provider, has the ability to fetch secrets cross-namespaces with the roleBinding of the external-secrets controller, bypassing our security mechanisms. This function was completely removed in version 1.2.0, as everything done with that templating function can be done in a different way while respecting External Secrets Operator's safeguards As a workaround, use a policy engine such as Kubernetes, Kyverno, Kubewarden, or OPA to prevent the usage of `getSecretKey` in any ExternalSecret resource.

Affected products

external-secrets: from 0.20.2 before 1.2.0 — fixed in 1.2.0

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: external-secrets 1.2.0. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

Get alerted when CVE-2026-22822 or the next vulnerability affects your stack