{"id":46591,"date":"2026-04-13T23:08:56","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T23:08:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=46591"},"modified":"2026-04-13T23:08:56","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T23:08:56","slug":"external-secrets-operator-has-dns-exfiltration-via-gethostbyname-in-its-v2-template-engine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zero.redgem.net\/?p=46591","title":{"rendered":"External Secrets Operator has DNS exfiltration via getHostByName in its v2 template engine_CVE-2026-34984"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>{&#8220;lastseen&#8221;:&#8221;&#8221;,&#8221;description&#8221;:&#8221;External Secrets Operator reads information from a third-party service and automatically injects the values as Kubernetes Secrets. Versions 2.2.0 and below contain a vulnerability in runtime\/template\/v2\/template.go where the v2 template engine removes env and expandenv from Sprig&#8217;s TxtFuncMap() but leaves the getHostByName function accessible to user-controlled templates. Since ESO executes templates within the controller process, an attacker who can create or update templated ExternalSecret resources can invoke controller-side DNS lookups using secret-derived values. This creates a DNS exfiltration primitive, allowing fetched secret material to be leaked via DNS queries without requiring direct outbound network access from the attacker&#8217;s workload. The impact is a confidentiality issue, particularly in environments where untrusted or lower-trust users can author templated ExternalSecret resources and the controller has DNS resolution capability. This issue has been fixed in version 2.3.0.&#8221;,&#8221;published&#8221;:&#8221;2026-04-14T01:48:41.166Z&#8221;,&#8221;modified&#8221;:&#8221;2026-04-14T01:48:41.166Z&#8221;,&#8221;type&#8221;:&#8221;cve&#8221;,&#8221;title&#8221;:&#8221;External Secrets Operator has DNS exfiltration via getHostByName in its v2 template engine&#8221;,&#8221;source&#8221;:&#8221;GitHub_M&#8221;,&#8221;references&#8221;:&#8221;https:\/\/github.com\/external-secrets\/external-secrets\/security\/advisories\/GHSA-r2pg-r6h7-crf3\\nhttps:\/\/github.com\/external-secrets\/external-secrets\/commit\/6800989bdc12782ca2605d3b8bf7f2876a16551a\\nhttps:\/\/github.com\/external-secrets\/external-secrets\/releases\/tag\/v2.3.0&#8243;,&#8221;id&#8221;:&#8221;CVE-2026-34984&#8243;,&#8221;bulletinFamily&#8221;:&#8221;&#8221;,&#8221;cwe&#8221;:[&#8220;CWE-200&#8243;],&#8221;cvelist&#8221;:null,&#8221;sourceData&#8221;:&#8221;external-secrets external-secrets \\u003c 2.3.0&#8243;,&#8221;sourceHref&#8221;:&#8221;&#8221;,&#8221;cvss&#8221;:{&#8220;score&#8221;:7.1,&#8221;severity&#8221;:&#8221;HIGH&#8221;,&#8221;vector&#8221;:&#8221;CVSS:4.0\/AV:N\/AC:L\/AT:N\/PR:L\/UI:N\/VC:H\/VI:N\/VA:N\/SC:N\/SI:N\/SA:N&#8221;,&#8221;version&#8221;:&#8221;4.0&#8243;},&#8221;cvss2&#8243;:{},&#8221;cvss3&#8243;:{&#8220;version&#8221;:&#8221;&#8221;,&#8221;vectorString&#8221;:&#8221;&#8221;,&#8221;baseScore&#8221;:0,&#8221;baseSeverity&#8221;:&#8221;&#8221;,&#8221;attackVector&#8221;:&#8221;&#8221;,&#8221;attackComplexity&#8221;:&#8221;&#8221;,&#8221;privilegesRequired&#8221;:&#8221;&#8221;,&#8221;userInteraction&#8221;:&#8221;&#8221;,&#8221;scope&#8221;:&#8221;&#8221;,&#8221;confidentialityImpact&#8221;:&#8221;&#8221;,&#8221;integrityImpact&#8221;:&#8221;&#8221;,&#8221;availabilityImpact&#8221;:&#8221;&#8221;,&#8221;cvssV3&#8243;:{&#8220;version&#8221;:&#8221;&#8221;,&#8221;vectorString&#8221;:&#8221;&#8221;,&#8221;baseScore&#8221;:0,&#8221;baseSeverity&#8221;:&#8221;&#8221;,&#8221;attackVector&#8221;:&#8221;&#8221;,&#8221;attackComplexity&#8221;:&#8221;&#8221;,&#8221;privilegesRequired&#8221;:&#8221;&#8221;,&#8221;userInteraction&#8221;:&#8221;&#8221;,&#8221;scope&#8221;:&#8221;&#8221;,&#8221;confidentialityImpact&#8221;:&#8221;&#8221;,&#8221;integrityImpact&#8221;:&#8221;&#8221;,&#8221;availabilityImpact&#8221;:&#8221;&#8221;}},&#8221;href&#8221;:&#8221;&#8221;,&#8221;category_name&#8221;:&#8221;CVE&#8221;,&#8221;post_link&#8221;:&#8221;&#8221;,&#8221;product&#8221;:&#8221;external-secrets&#8221;,&#8221;version&#8221;:&#8221;\\u003c 2.3.0&#8243;,&#8221;vendor&#8221;:&#8221;external-secrets&#8221;,&#8221;ai_description&#8221;:&#8221;&#8221;,&#8221;ai_severity&#8221;:&#8221;&#8221;,&#8221;ai_vendor&#8221;:&#8221;&#8221;,&#8221;ai_product&#8221;:&#8221;&#8221;,&#8221;ai_version&#8221;:&#8221;&#8221;,&#8221;ai_score&#8221;:0}<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>{&#8220;lastseen&#8221;:&#8221;&#8221;,&#8221;description&#8221;:&#8221;External Secrets Operator reads information from a third-party service and automatically injects the values as Kubernetes Secrets. Versions 2.2.0 and below contain a vulnerability in&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[6,8,50,12,15,13,7,11,5],"class_list":["post-46591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-category_cve","tag-cve","tag-cvss","tag-cvss-71","tag-exploit","tag-high","tag-news","tag-security","tag-tapic","tag-vulnerability"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>External Secrets Operator has DNS exfiltration via getHostByName in its v2 template engine_CVE-2026-34984 - zero redgem<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/zero.redgem.net\/?p=46591\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"External Secrets Operator has DNS exfiltration via getHostByName in its v2 template engine_CVE-2026-34984 - zero redgem\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"{&#8220;lastseen&#8221;:&#8221;&#8221;,&#8221;description&#8221;:&#8221;External Secrets Operator reads information from a third-party service and automatically injects the values as Kubernetes Secrets. 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