KEDA: Privilege escalation from namespace admin to cluster admin via KEDA TriggerAuthentication
Why It Matters
Analysis dossierWhy It Matters
KEDA is a Kubernetes-based Event Driven Autoscaling component. In version 2.20.2 and earlier, a namespace administrator who can create TriggerAuthentication and ScaledObject resources can set hashiCorpVault.address to a tenant-controlled endpoint and select Kubernetes authentication without an explicit credential. KEDA then uses the operator pod's projected ServiceAccount token and sends it to that endpoint as a Vault login credential. The JWT-shape filter from the prior CVE-2025-68476 remediation accepts the operator token because its subject is a Kubernetes ServiceAccount, so the attacker can obtain the operator's cluster-wide permissions, including broad Secret reads and workload or admission-related operations. This vulnerability is fixed in 2.21.0.
High Severity / Review
Unknown
Unknown
Risk basis: SOC ecosystem technology relevance; CRITICAL severity; Critical CVSS without confirmed KEV exploitation
Affected Products & Remediation
1 source-backed product- azl3 keda 2.14.1-19 on Azure Linux 3.0 · version range not provided by source · Microsoft MSRC · Source
Vendor or catalog guidance (source)
- Microsoft MSRC: Release Notes
Known exploitation (source facts)
Only what a source states. Unknown means no source has said either way; it is not "not exploited".
- CISA KEV
- Unknown
- Exploited (source statement)
- Unknown
- Publicly disclosed (source)
- Unknown
Suggested hunting (rule-based inference)
SecOps Signal recommendation (rule-based inference). These steps are hunting hypotheses from the vulnerability class; they do not state or imply that exploitation occurred here or anywhere.
Matched ssrf (CWE-918)
Exposure
- Identify affected server-side request features and deployed versions.Telemetry: Application inventory · The specific feature must be confirmed from the advisory. · Rule ssrf
Exploitation evidence
- Review unusual outbound connections from the affected service to internal or metadata endpoints.Telemetry: DeviceNetworkEvents · Outbound patterns can support SSRF hunting. · Rule ssrf
Response
- Verify the vendor fix and confirm expected egress after deployment.Telemetry: DeviceNetworkEvents · Post-change telemetry helps validate mitigation. · Rule ssrf
CISA KEV Record
CISA KEV status was not determined for this record.
Change History & Source Data
— No recorded material change
- CNA / source
- security-advisories@github.com
- Record status · verification
- UPDATED · Unknown
- CPE
- Unknown
Evidence & Provenance
— No published hunting query names this record. Browse community and library queries instead.