# CVE-2026-72640: Unintended Proxy or Intermediary in Elastic Cloud on Kubernetes Leading to Cross-Namespace Secret Disclosure

> A user with namespace-limited permissions can exploit an annotation flaw to disclose secrets from other namespaces via the ECK operator.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 13 Aug 2026
- **Updated:** 13 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** GHSA-vvr2-6gx7-cxv9

## What is CVE-2026-72640?

CVE-2026-72640 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Elastic Eck Operator, published on 13 Aug 2026. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

The Elastic Cloud on Kubernetes (ECK) operator reads a list of secret references from an annotation on secrets it manages, and it accepts the namespace recorded in each reference without validating that the reference is authorized for the resource being reconciled. A user whose Kubernetes permissions are limited to their own namespace can write that annotation, trigger a reconcile, and cause the operator to use its cluster-wide secret permissions to copy the contents of a secret from any other namespace into a secret the user can read.

Weakness: CWE-441 (Unintended Proxy or Intermediary)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-72640?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Elastic Elastic Cloud on Kubernetes.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-72640?

No fix has been published for CVE-2026-72640 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2026-72640 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-72640 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Elastic Eck Operator

- [CVE-2020-7010](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-7010/): Cryptographic Issues in ECK (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2026-72648](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-72648/): Information disclosure in Eck Operator (medium 6.5)
- [CVE-2026-78609](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-78609/): Incorrect Authorization in Elastic Cloud on Kubernetes Leading to Unauthorized Modification of Data (medium 5.4)
- [CVE-2023-31416](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-31416/): Elastic Cloud on Kubernetes (ECK) secret token configuration issue (medium 5.3)
- [CVE-2026-78600](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-78600/): Incomplete Cleanup in Elastic Cloud on Kubernetes Leading to Unauthorized Cross-Namespace Credential Retention (low 3.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2026-72640 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-72640 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Elastic Eck Operator, published on 13 Aug 2026. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-72640 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Elastic Eck Operator. 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-2026-72640/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-72640/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-72640
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-72640
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-72640

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-72640/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.