# CVE-2026-71470: Privilege escalation in Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.11

> A privileged user can manipulate Search CR fields to inject malicious images or secrets, leading to privilege escalation and full cluster compromise.

- **Severity:** Critical 9.1 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/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:** 19 Aug 2026
- **Updated:** 5 Sep 2026
- **Also known as:** GHSA-5g3m-2273-p6x6

## What is CVE-2026-71470?

CVE-2026-71470 is a critical vulnerability in Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.11, published on 19 Aug 2026. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A flaw was found in the search-v2-operator. This vulnerability allows a privileged user, specifically a Custom Resource (CR) editor, to manipulate Search CR fields such as imageOverride, arguments, and environment variables without proper validation. By exploiting this, an attacker can mount arbitrary secrets into a search container's environment or replace the container image with an attacker-controlled one. This leads to privilege escalation and can result in a full cluster compromise due to the ServiceAccount's extensive impersonation permissions.

Weakness: CWE-913 (Improper Control of Dynamically-Managed Code Resources)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-71470?


## How do I fix CVE-2026-71470?

No fix has been published for CVE-2026-71470 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2026-71470 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-71470 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-71470 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-71470 is a critical vulnerability in Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.11, published on 19 Aug 2026. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-71470 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.11. 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-2026-71470/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-71470/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-71470
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-71470
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-71470

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-71470/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.