Vulnerability-Lookup

GHSA-QF34-295C-26V8

Vulnerability from github – Published: 2026-07-14 20:29 – Updated: 2026-07-14 20:29

Summary

Woodpecker: Privilege escalation via unrestricted serviceAccountName in the Kubernetes backend

Details

Impact

A privilege escalation vulnerability affects Woodpecker instances using the Kubernetes backend.

The pipeline option backend_options.kubernetes.serviceAccountName was passed directly to the pod spec without any admin gating.

Who is impacted: any operator running the Kubernetes backend. Any user with Push permission on a connected repository can run pipeline pods under an arbitrary ServiceAccount in the pipeline namespace, gaining that account's RBAC permissions. If a privileged ServiceAccount is reachable in that namespace, this can lead to secret exfiltration (database credentials, API keys, TLS certs) and full cluster takeover.

Patches

https://github.com/woodpecker-ci/woodpecker/pull/6792

Workarounds

Operators who cannot upgrade immediately can mitigate by any of:

Restrict Push access on repositories connected to the Kubernetes-backed instance to trusted users only.
Harden the pipeline namespace: ensure no privileged ServiceAccount exists or is bound in the namespace where pipeline pods run; keep the default ServiceAccount minimally privileged.
Disable ServiceAccount token automounting for ServiceAccounts that should not be used by pipelines.
Enforce an admission policy (e.g. OPA/Gatekeeper, Kyverno, or a ValidatingAdmissionPolicy) that rejects pipeline pods setting an unexpected serviceAccountName.
Use a dedicated, isolated namespace per org/instance with no sensitive RBAC bindings.

Resources

Vulnerable option introduced in commit 609ba481b5e912f59aaae8ca7bc22b44523c5e37
Affected versions: v1.0.0 through v3.15.0
Source: pipeline/backend/kubernetes/backend_options.go (field ServiceAccountName), pipeline/backend/kubernetes/pod.go (assigned to pod spec with no gating)

Severity

8.2 (High)


                  
                    CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

Show details on source website

JSON

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{
  "affected": [
    {
      "package": {
        "ecosystem": "Go",
        "name": "go.woodpecker-ci.org/woodpecker/v3"
      },
      "ranges": [
        {
          "events": [
            {
              "introduced": "0"
            },
            {
              "fixed": "3.16.0"
            }
          ],
          "type": "ECOSYSTEM"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "package": {
        "ecosystem": "Go",
        "name": "github.com/woodpecker-ci/woodpecker"
      },
      "ranges": [
        {
          "events": [
            {
              "introduced": "1.0.0"
            },
            {
              "last_affected": "1.0.4"
            }
          ],
          "type": "ECOSYSTEM"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "package": {
        "ecosystem": "Go",
        "name": "go.woodpecker-ci.org/woodpecker/v2"
      },
      "ranges": [
        {
          "events": [
            {
              "introduced": "0"
            },
            {
              "last_affected": "2.8.3"
            }
          ],
          "type": "ECOSYSTEM"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "aliases": [
    "CVE-2026-61549"
  ],
  "database_specific": {
    "cwe_ids": [
      "CWE-269",
      "CWE-862"
    ],
    "github_reviewed": true,
    "github_reviewed_at": "2026-07-14T20:29:32Z",
    "nvd_published_at": null,
    "severity": "HIGH"
  },
  "details": "### Impact\n\nA privilege escalation vulnerability affects Woodpecker instances using the **Kubernetes backend**.\n\nThe pipeline option `backend_options.kubernetes.serviceAccountName` was passed directly to the pod spec without any admin gating.\n\n**Who is impacted:** any operator running the Kubernetes backend. Any user with **Push** permission on a connected repository can run pipeline pods under an arbitrary ServiceAccount in the pipeline namespace, gaining that account\u0027s RBAC permissions. If a privileged ServiceAccount is reachable in that namespace, this can lead to secret exfiltration (database credentials, API keys, TLS certs) and full cluster takeover.\n\n### Patches\n\nhttps://github.com/woodpecker-ci/woodpecker/pull/6792\n\n### Workarounds\n\nOperators who cannot upgrade immediately can mitigate by any of:\n\n- **Restrict Push access** on repositories connected to the Kubernetes-backed instance to\n  trusted users only.\n- **Harden the pipeline namespace**: ensure no privileged ServiceAccount exists or is bound in\n  the namespace where pipeline pods run; keep the `default` ServiceAccount minimally privileged.\n- **Disable ServiceAccount token automounting** for ServiceAccounts that should not be used by\n  pipelines.\n- **Enforce an admission policy** (e.g. OPA/Gatekeeper, Kyverno, or a ValidatingAdmissionPolicy)\n  that rejects pipeline pods setting an unexpected `serviceAccountName`.\n- **Use a dedicated, isolated namespace** per org/instance with no sensitive RBAC bindings.\n\n### Resources\n\n- Vulnerable option introduced in commit `609ba481b5e912f59aaae8ca7bc22b44523c5e37`\n- Affected versions: `v1.0.0` through `v3.15.0`\n- Source: `pipeline/backend/kubernetes/backend_options.go` (field `ServiceAccountName`),\n  `pipeline/backend/kubernetes/pod.go` (assigned to pod spec with no gating)",
  "id": "GHSA-qf34-295c-26v8",
  "modified": "2026-07-14T20:29:32Z",
  "published": "2026-07-14T20:29:32Z",
  "references": [
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://github.com/woodpecker-ci/woodpecker/security/advisories/GHSA-qf34-295c-26v8"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://github.com/woodpecker-ci/woodpecker/pull/6792"
    },
    {
      "type": "PACKAGE",
      "url": "https://github.com/woodpecker-ci/woodpecker"
    }
  ],
  "schema_version": "1.4.0",
  "severity": [
    {
      "score": "CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N",
      "type": "CVSS_V4"
    }
  ],
  "summary": "Woodpecker: Privilege escalation via unrestricted serviceAccountName in the Kubernetes backend"
}

CVE-2026-61549 (GCVE-0-2026-61549)

Vulnerability from cvelistv5 – Published: 2026-09-15 14:53 – Updated: 2026-09-16 03:56

Title

Woodpecker: Privilege escalation via unrestricted serviceAccountName in the Kubernetes backend

Summary

Woodpecker is a CI/CD engine. From 1.0.0 until 3.16.0, pipeline/backend/kubernetes/backend_options.go defines backend_options.kubernetes.serviceAccountName, and the Kubernetes backend in pipeline/backend/kubernetes/pod.go copies that pipeline-step value directly into the pod specification without administrator authorization. Any user with Push permission on a connected repository can therefore run pipeline pods under an arbitrary ServiceAccount in the pipeline namespace and inherit that account's RBAC permissions. When a privileged ServiceAccount is reachable, the attacker can exfiltrate secrets such as database credentials, API keys, and TLS certificates and may take over the cluster. This issue is fixed in version 3.16.0.

Severity

9 (Critical)


                        
                          CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:H/SI:H/SA:H

SSVC

Exploitation: none Automatable: no Technical Impact: total

CISA Coordinator · CISA-ADP (v2.0.3)

Decision recorded 2026-09-15 00:00 UTC

CWE

CWE-269 - Improper Privilege Management
CWE-862 - Missing Authorization

Assigner

GitHub_M mitre root

References

5 references

URL	Tags
https://github.com/woodpecker-ci/woodpecker/secur…	x_refsource_CONFIRM
https://github.com/woodpecker-ci/woodpecker/pull/6792	x_refsource_MISC
https://github.com/woodpecker-ci/woodpecker/commi…	x_refsource_MISC
https://github.com/woodpecker-ci/woodpecker/commi…	x_refsource_MISC
https://github.com/woodpecker-ci/woodpecker/relea…	x_refsource_MISC

Impacted products

1 product

Vendor	Product	Version
woodpecker-ci	woodpecker	Affected: >= 1.0.0, < 3.16.0

Show details on NVD website

JSON

To clipboard

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  "containers": {
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        "metrics": [
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                "id": "CVE-2026-61549",
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        }
      ],
      "metrics": [
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Sightings

Author	Source	Type	Date	Other

Nomenclature

Seen: The vulnerability was mentioned, discussed, or observed by the user.
Confirmed: The vulnerability has been validated from an analyst's perspective.
Published Proof of Concept: A public proof of concept is available for this vulnerability.
Exploited: The vulnerability was observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
Patched: The vulnerability was observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.
Not exploited: The vulnerability was not observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
Not confirmed: The user expressed doubt about the validity of the vulnerability.
Not patched: The vulnerability was not observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.

Detection rules are retrieved from Rulezet.

The MITRE ATT&CK techniques below are AI-generated suggestions, inferred from the description of the vulnerability by the CIRCL/vulnerability-attack-technique-classification-roberta-base model, served locally by ML-Gateway. They have not been verified by an analyst and are provided for guidance only.
The approach is described in our paper Mapping CVEs to MITRE ATT&CK Techniques: A Curated Gold-Set Classifier and the Limits of LLM-Assisted Label Expansion.
Browse all ATT&CK techniques and the vulnerabilities related to each.

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