CyberSecBulletin
CVE-2026-15140NVD status: Deferred

Portworx Operator: Incorrect Privilege Assignment

Published Updated By the CyberSecBulletin desk

CVE-2026-15140 is a high-severity incorrect privilege assignment vulnerability in Portworx Operator from Everpure, with a CVSS 4.0 base score of 7.7 out of 10. It can be exploited remotely over the network by an attacker with a low-privileged account, without any action from a user. Affected Portworx Operator versions: 26.3.1 and earlier. The record does not name a fixed version, so check the vendor advisory. There is no confirmed exploitation so far. EPSS estimates a 0.35% chance of exploitation within 30 days, which is low compared with other CVEs.

Next patch cycle

High severity with no evidence of exploitation so far.

What to do

  1. Check which version of Portworx Operator you run against the affected versions below, and install the vendor's latest release.
  2. Read the advisory on support.everpuredata.com for workarounds and exact fixed builds.

Affected products and versions

VendorProductAffected versionsFixed in
EverpurePortworx Operator26.3.1 and earlierNot stated

Version data comes from the organisation that assigned the CVE. Confirm against the vendor advisory before deciding you are unaffected.

How the severity score breaks down

Attack vector
NetworkCan be exploited remotely over a network, including the internet.
Attack complexity
LowNo special conditions are needed; the attack works reliably.
Attack requirements
PresentThe target must be in a specific state or configuration for the attack to work.
Privileges required
LowA basic user account is enough.
User interaction
NoneNo action by a victim is required.
Confidentiality (vulnerable system)
HighSerious loss of confidentiality on the vulnerable system.
Integrity (vulnerable system)
HighSerious loss of integrity on the vulnerable system.
Availability (vulnerable system)
HighSerious loss of availability on the vulnerable system.
Confidentiality (other systems)
NoneNo loss of confidentiality on systems beyond the vulnerable one.
Integrity (other systems)
NoneNo loss of integrity on systems beyond the vulnerable one.
Availability (other systems)
NoneNo loss of availability on systems beyond the vulnerable one.

Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X. Scored by CNA (purestorage.com).

Official description

A privilege-escalation issue in the Portworx Operator when deployed on Red Hat OpenShift (OCP). Only under specific conditions during the initial provisioning of a Portworx storage cluster, a user holding only limited, namespace-scoped permissions could cause the operator to grant broader access than intended, potentially resulting in elevated privileges within the Kubernetes cluster.

Source: the CVE record as published by its numbering authority, via NVD and CVE.org.

The underlying weakness: Incorrect Privilege Assignment

A product incorrectly assigns a privilege to a particular actor, creating an unintended sphere of control for that actor.

How developers prevent this class of flaw

  • Very carefully manage the setting, management, and handling of privileges. Explicitly manage trust zones in the software.
  • Run your code using the lowest privileges that are required to accomplish the necessary tasks. If possible, create isolated accounts with limited privileges that are only used for a single task. That way, a successful attack will not immediately give the attacker access to the rest of the software or its environment. For example, database applications rarely need to run as the database administrator, especially in day-to-day operations.

More Incorrect Privilege Assignment vulnerabilities (CWE-266)

Timeline

  1. CVE record published.
  2. CISA published its SSVC assessment (exploitation: none, automatable: no, technical impact: total).

References

Recent Incorrect Privilege Assignment vulnerabilities

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