CVE-2026-15218
Received Received - Intake

Red Hat OpenShift AI ServiceAccount Privilege Escalation

Publication date: 2026-08-17

Last updated on: 2026-08-17

Assigner: redhat-SADP

Description
A flaw was found in the maas-api and maas-controller ServiceAccounts within Red Hat OpenShift AI. These ServiceAccounts are granted cluster-wide permissions that exceed their operational requirements. An attacker who compromises the identity of these ServiceAccounts, either through a remote code execution vulnerability or by creating a malicious pod in the same namespace, could exploit these excessive permissions. This could lead to full cluster administrator privileges through the creation of new ClusterRoleBindings or the disclosure of sensitive information by accessing all secrets across the cluster.

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Meta Information

Published
2026-08-17
Last Modified
2026-08-17
Generated
2026-08-17
AI Q&A
2026-08-17
EPSS Evaluated
N/A
NVD
CVE-2026-15218
EUVD
EUVD-2026-60199

Affected Vendors & Products

Showing 4 associated CPEs
Vendor Product Version / Range
red_hat openshift_ai *
red_hat open_shift_ai *
red_hat maas_api *
red_hat maas_controller *

Helpful Resources

Exploitability

CWE
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KEV
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CWE ID Description
CWE-266 A product incorrectly assigns a privilege to a particular actor, creating an unintended sphere of control for that actor.

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Executive Summary

This vulnerability involves excessive cluster-wide permissions granted to the maas-api and maas-controller ServiceAccounts in Red Hat OpenShift AI. These permissions exceed operational needs, allowing an attacker who compromises these accounts to escalate privileges to full cluster administrator or access sensitive secrets across the cluster.

Detection Guidance

Detecting this vulnerability requires checking for excessive RBAC permissions assigned to the maas-api and maas-controller ServiceAccounts in Red Hat OpenShift AI. Inspect ClusterRoleBindings and ServiceAccount tokens using commands like 'oc get clusterrolebindings -o yaml' and 'oc get serviceaccount maas-api -n <namespace> -o yaml'. Look for permissions that allow token generation, secret access, or cluster-admin privileges.

Impact Analysis

An attacker could exploit this to gain full cluster control by creating malicious pods or exploiting remote code execution, leading to privilege escalation or unauthorized access to secrets. This requires prior compromise of a pod or ability to create pods in the affected namespaces.

Compliance Impact

This vulnerability could severely impact compliance with GDPR and HIPAA due to unauthorized access to sensitive data. Exploitation may lead to full cluster-admin privileges, enabling attackers to access, modify, or exfiltrate all secrets across the cluster, including personal or protected health information. This violates data protection principles under GDPR (e.g., integrity, confidentiality) and HIPAA (e.g., unauthorized access to PHI).

Mitigation Strategies

Immediately revoke excessive permissions from the maas-api and maas-controller ServiceAccounts. Remove unnecessary ClusterRoleBindings and restrict token generation capabilities. Upgrade to a patched version of Red Hat OpenShift AI if available. Monitor for unauthorized pod creation or token misuse in the affected namespaces.

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