# CVE-2026-71404: Rancher: Ownership-less ClusterRole overwrite via attacker-controlled cr-name annotation on GlobalRole

> Attackers with GlobalRole permissions can overwrite arbitrary ClusterRoles via annotations, revoking permissions for all bound principals.

- **Severity:** High 8.7 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** An administrator
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 3 Sep 2026
- **Updated:** 3 Sep 2026

## What is CVE-2026-71404?

CVE-2026-71404 is a high-severity vulnerability in SUSE Rancher, published on 3 Sep 2026. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A flaw was found in Rancher Manager. The GlobalRole controller derived the target ClusterRole name from the user-settable `authz.management.cattle.io/cr-name` annotation and overwrote that object's rules without verifying ownership. A user with delegated GlobalRole create or update permission could point the annotation at any existing ClusterRole, such as `cluster-admin`, and revoke the permissions of every principal bound to it. The change persists after the malicious GlobalRole is deleted.

This issue affects Rancher: before 2.15.1.

Weakness: CWE-639 (Authorization Bypass Through User-Controlled Key)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-71404?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Suse Rancher.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-71404?

No fix has been published for CVE-2026-71404 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2026-71404 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-71404 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in SUSE Rancher

- [CVE-2023-22647](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-22647/): Rancher vulnerable to Privilege Escalation via manipulation of Secrets (critical 9.9)
- [CVE-2023-22651](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-22651/): Rancher Webhook is misconfigured during upgrade process (critical 9.9)
- [CVE-2022-43757](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-43757/): Rancher: Exposure of sensitive fields (critical 9.9)
- [CVE-2021-36782](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-36782/): Rancher: Plaintext storage and exposure of credentials in Rancher API and cluster.management.cattle.io object (critical 9.9)
- [CVE-2021-36783](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-36783/): Rancher: Failure to properly sanitize credentials in cluster template answers (critical 9.9)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-71404 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-71404 is a high-severity vulnerability in SUSE Rancher, published on 3 Sep 2026. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-71404 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: SUSE Rancher. 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-2026-71404/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-71404/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-71404
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-71404
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-71404

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-71404/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.