# CVE-2025-62159: External Secrets Operator's BeyondTrust Provider has Insecure Secret Retrieval

> Attackers can access secrets across namespaces without proper validation, exposing sensitive credentials in Kubernetes environments using the BeyondTrust provider.

- **Severity:** High 8.7 (`CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 10 Oct 2025
- **Updated:** 14 Oct 2025
- **Also known as:** GHSA-vf79-2pjx-phpp, MINI-pwqf-v92f-29qc

## What is CVE-2025-62159?

CVE-2025-62159 is a high-severity missing authorization vulnerability in external-secrets, published on 10 Oct 2025. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

External Secrets Operator reads information from a third-party service and automatically injects the values as Kubernetes Secrets. A vulnerability was discovered in the BeyondTrust provider implementation for External Secrets Operator versions 0.10.1 through 0.19.2. The provider previously retrieved Kubernetes secrets directly, without validating the namespace context or the type of secret store. This allowed unauthorized cross-namespace secret access, violating security boundaries and potentially exposing sensitive credentials. In version 0.20.0, the provider code was updated to use the `resolvers.SecretKeyRef` utility, which enforces namespace validation and only allows cross-namespace access for `ClusterSecretStore` types. This ensures secrets are only retrieved from the correct namespace, mitigating the risk of unauthorized access. All users should upgrade to the latest version containing this fix. As a workaround, use a policy engine such as Kyverno or OPA to prevent using BeyondTrust provider and/or validate the `(Cluster)SecretStore` and ensure the namespace may only be set when using a `ClusterSecretStore`.

Weakness: CWE-284 (Improper Access Control)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-62159?


## How do I fix CVE-2025-62159?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2025-62159 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-62159 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2025-62159 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-62159 is a high-severity missing authorization vulnerability in external-secrets, published on 10 Oct 2025. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-62159 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: external-secrets. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-62159/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-62159/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-62159
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-62159
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-62159

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-62159/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.