Description
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'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'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.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|---|
| external-secrets | external-secrets | < 2.3.0 | — |
Fixed in Linux distributions
Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.
openSUSE
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| openSUSE Leap 16.0 | govulncheck-vulndb | 0.0.20260723T184607-160000.1.1 | openSUSE-SU-2026:21483-1 |
Wolfi
| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wolfi rolling | external-secrets-operator-1.1 | No fix yet | — |
Affected packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Affected | Fixed | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Go | github.com/external-secrets/external-secrets | < 1.3.3-0.20260331202714-6800989bdc12 | 1.3.3-0.20260331202714-6800989bdc12 | GHSA-r2pg-r6h7-crf3 |
| Go | github.com/external-secrets/external-secrets | >= 2.0.0, <= 2.2.0 | — | GHSA-r2pg-r6h7-crf3 |
Advisories 1
- openSUSE-SU-2026:21483-1 Security update for govulncheck-vulndb SUSE / openSUSE Security Updates · Jul 31, 2026