Calico: Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor
CVE-2026-41186 is a high-severity exposure of sensitive information to an unauthorized actor vulnerability in Calico from Tigera, with a CVSS 3.1 base score of 7.5 out of 10. It can be exploited remotely over the network by an unauthenticated attacker, without any action from a user. The record lists versions 3.31.6, 3.32.1 as the first without the flaw, so updating Calico to one of those releases or later removes the exposure. There is no confirmed exploitation so far. EPSS estimates a 0.67% chance of exploitation within 30 days, higher than 52% of scored CVEs.
High severity with no evidence of exploitation so far.
What to do
- Update Calico to 3.31.6 or 3.32.1, whichever matches your release line, or a later version.
- Update Calico Enterprise to 3.21.7 or 3.22.4, whichever matches your release line, or a later version.
- Update Calico Cloud to 22.4.0 or a later version.
- Read the advisory on tigera.io for workarounds and exact fixed builds.
- Until you can update, restrict network access to the affected service so it is not reachable from untrusted networks.
Affected products and versions
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tigera | Calico | before 3.31.6; 3.32.0 up to, but not including, 3.32.1 | 3.31.6, 3.32.1 |
| Tigera | Calico Enterprise | before 3.21.7; 3.22.0 up to, but not including, 3.22.4 | 3.21.7, 3.22.4 |
| Tigera | Calico Cloud | before 22.4.0 | 22.4.0 |
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.
- Privileges required
- NoneNo account or login is needed.
- User interaction
- NoneNo action by a victim is required.
- Scope
- UnchangedImpact stays within the vulnerable component.
- Confidentiality
- HighAll data handled by the component can be read.
- Integrity
- NoneNothing can be modified.
- Availability
- NoneAvailability is not affected.
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N. Scored by NVD.
| Scoring system | Score | Severity | Scored by |
|---|---|---|---|
| CVSS 4.0 | 6.0 | Medium | CNA (tigera.io) |
| CVSS 3.1 | 7.5 | High | NVD |
Official description
When Calico's shared debug server is enabled (disabled by default), the Calico kube-controllers and Goldmane components bind their Go pprof debug listener to 0.0.0.0 without authentication. Any pod with network reachability to the listener can retrieve the process heap, goroutine stacks (including function arguments), and command-line arguments. Depending on the process's in-memory state, the heap may contain sensitive material. The debug listener is opt-in but is unsafe when enabled because it offers no authentication and no safe localhost-only binding option.
Source: the CVE record as published by its numbering authority, via NVD and CVE.org.
The underlying weakness: Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor
The product exposes sensitive information to an actor that is not explicitly authorized to have access to that information.
How developers prevent this class of flaw
- Compartmentalize the system to have safe areas where trust boundaries can be unambiguously drawn. Do not allow sensitive data to go outside of the trust boundary and always be careful when interfacing with a compartment outside of the safe area. Ensure that appropriate compartmentalization is built into the system design, and the compartmentalization allows for and reinforces privilege separation functionality. Architects and designers should rely on the principle of least privilege to decide the appropriate time to use privileges and the time to drop privileges.
More Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor vulnerabilities (CWE-200)
Timeline
- CVE record published.
- CISA published its SSVC assessment (exploitation: none, automatable: no, technical impact: partial).
- Record last changed materially (score, affected products, status or references).
References
Patches and release notes
- github.com/projectcalico/calico/pull/12491Issue Tracking
- github.com/projectcalico/calico/pull/12633Issue Tracking
- github.com/projectcalico/calico/pull/12634Issue Tracking
Other vulnerabilities in Calico
- 7.5 High severity
- 7.2 High severity
- 7.5 High severity
Recent Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor vulnerabilities
- 9.3 Critical severity
- 9.1 Critical severity
- 7.4 High severity
- 8.7 High severity
- 7.2 High severity
- 8.6 High severity
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