CVE-2026-47190: Metal3 IPAM Excessive Secret Permissions Vulnerability

Technical summary

The IPAM controller's ClusterRole defined in Kubernetes configured with full CRUD permissions (create, delete, get, list, patch, update, watch) on core/v1 Secrets across the namespace. The controller's actual codebase does not require Secret access during normal operation, making these permissions unnecessary and a violation of the principle of least privilege. An attacker with control of the controller pod—achievable through container compromise or supply chain injection—could directly interact with the Kubernetes API to enumerate and exfiltrate all Secrets in the namespace.

Business impact

Cluster credentials, application API keys, TLS certificates, and other sensitive data stored as Kubernetes Secrets could be exposed if the controller pod is compromised. This creates a cascading risk: attackers gaining Secret access could move laterally across applications, impersonate services, or establish persistent footholds. Organizations relying on this IPAM for bare-metal cluster management face potential credential theft affecting their entire Metal3 infrastructure.

Affected systems

Metal3 IP Address Manager versions prior to 1.11.7, 1.12.4, and 1.13.0 are affected. Any Kubernetes cluster using IPAM with the vulnerable ClusterRole is at risk, particularly environments where container image supply chains or pod execution contexts are less strictly controlled.

Exploitability

Exploitation requires prior compromise of the IPAM controller pod itself—a non-trivial prerequisite. However, once a pod is compromised (via supply chain attack, container escape, or malicious image injection), the excessive ClusterRole permissions make Secret enumeration and theft trivial for an attacker with API access. The CVSS score of 4.4 reflects this: meaningful impact (confidentiality breach) but a high bar for initial access.

Remediation

Upgrade to IPAM version 1.11.7, 1.12.4, or 1.13.0 or later. These versions restrict the controller's ClusterRole to only the permissions actually required for IP address management. After patching, verify the controller pod's ServiceAccount role bindings and confirm no custom overrides re-grant unnecessary Secret permissions.

Patch guidance

Plan updates within your normal Kubernetes maintenance windows. Since IPAM is a control-plane component for Metal3 clusters, test patches in non-production environments first. Verify cluster stability after the upgrade, particularly DNS and IP allocation functionality. No cluster downtime is typically required for this update, but monitor controller logs during rollout.

Detection guidance

Audit your current IPAM ClusterRole bindings using `kubectl get clusterrole -o yaml | grep -i ipam` and inspect the `rules` section for Secret permissions. Enable Kubernetes API audit logging and search for Secret access patterns (get, list, watch on secrets.core) originating from the IPAM controller's ServiceAccount. Review image provenance and container registry pull policies to detect unexpected controller pod image updates.

Why prioritize this

Although the CVSS score is moderate, this represents a dangerous permission misconfiguration affecting a trusted infrastructure component. Bare-metal cluster managers should prioritize patching because: (1) controller pods are attractive targets for supply chain attacks; (2) Secret exfiltration from a cluster controller has broad blast radius; (3) patches are readily available and low-risk. Organizations not yet at vulnerable versions should ensure their configuration management prevents this anti-pattern.

Risk score, explained

The CVSS 3.1 score of 4.4 (MEDIUM) accounts for high confidentiality impact (H) if the pod is compromised, but requires high attacker effort (H for AC—Attack Complexity) to first compromise the pod. The high privilege requirement (H for PR) reflects that only a compromised controller process can abuse these permissions. The score appropriately captures the severity of the capability gap rather than the overall exploit chain difficulty.

Frequently asked questions