CVE-2026-61549 Woodpecker: Privilege escalation via unrestricted serviceAccountName in the Kubernetes backend
Attackers with push access can escalate privileges by specifying arbitrary Kubernetes ServiceAccounts, potentially leading to cluster takeover and secret exfiltration.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Any signed-in user
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2026-61549?
CVE-2026-61549 is a critical vulnerability in woodpecker-ci woodpecker, published on 15 Sep 2026. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Official description
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.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-61549?
10 open source packages ship an affected version, including github.com/woodpecker-ci/woodpecker, go.woodpecker-ci.org/woodpecker and go.woodpecker-ci.org/woodpecker/v2.
| Package | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
github.com/woodpecker-ci/woodpecker Go | From 1.0.0 | None |
github.com/woodpecker-ci/woodpecker Go | From 1.0.0 to 1.0.4 | None |
github.com/woodpecker-ci/woodpecker Go | From 1.0.0 to 1.0.4 | None |
go.woodpecker-ci.org/woodpecker Go | All versions | None |
go.woodpecker-ci.org/woodpecker/v2 Go | All versions | None |
go.woodpecker-ci.org/woodpecker/v2 Go | All versions to 2.8.3 | None |
4 more packages
go.woodpecker-ci.org/woodpecker/v2 Go | All versions to 2.8.3 | None |
go.woodpecker-ci.org/woodpecker/v3 Go | All versions | 3.16.0 |
go.woodpecker-ci.org/woodpecker/v3 Go | All versions | 3.16.0 |
go.woodpecker-ci.org/woodpecker/v3 Go | All versions | 3.16.0 |
How do I fix CVE-2026-61549?
Upgrade to a fixed version.
Is CVE-2026-61549 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-61549 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as GHSA-qf34-295c-26v8, GO-2026-5992.