CyberSecBulletin
CVE-2026-44938NVD status: Analyzed

Rancher: Insufficiently Protected Credentials

Published Updated By the CyberSecBulletin desk

CVE-2026-44938 is a high-severity insufficiently protected credentials vulnerability in Rancher from SUSE, with a CVSS 3.1 base score of 8.8 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. The record lists versions 0.15.2, 0.14.6, 0.13.11 as the first without the flaw, so updating Rancher to one of those releases or later removes the exposure. There is no confirmed exploitation so far. EPSS estimates a 0.44% 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. Update Rancher to 0.15.2 or 0.14.6 or 0.13.11 or 0.12.15, whichever matches your release line, or a later version.
  2. Update Rancher Fleet to 0.12.15 or 0.13.11 or 0.14.6 or 0.15.2, whichever matches your release line, or a later version.
  3. Read the advisory on github.com for workarounds and exact fixed builds.

Affected products and versions

VendorProductAffected versionsFixed in
SUSERancher0.15.0 up to, but not including, 0.15.2; 0.14.0 up to, but not including, 0.14.6; 0.13.0 up to, but not including, 0.13.11; 0.12.0 up to, but not including, 0.12.150.15.2, 0.14.6, 0.13.11, 0.12.15
SUSERancher Fleet0.12.0 up to, but not including, 0.12.15; 0.13.0 up to, but not including, 0.13.11; 0.14.0 up to, but not including, 0.14.6; 0.15.0 up to, but not including, 0.15.20.12.15, 0.13.11, 0.14.6, 0.15.2

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
LowA basic user account is enough.
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
HighData or code can be modified at will.
Availability
HighThe component can be taken down completely.

Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H. Scored by CNA (suse.de).

Official description

A vulnerability has been identified in Fleet's agent-side deployer, which did not filter security-sensitive keys from namespaceLabels in fleet.yaml (or BundleDeployment.spec.options.namespaceLabels) when applying them to the target namespace. An attacker with git push access to a Fleet-monitored repository could overwrite Pod Security Standards (PSS) enforcement labels on a target namespace. This allows the attacker to weaken admission controls and deploy workloads that PSS policies would otherwise block.

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

The underlying weakness: Insufficiently Protected Credentials

The product transmits or stores authentication credentials, but it uses an insecure method that is susceptible to unauthorized interception and/or retrieval.

How developers prevent this class of flaw

  • Use an appropriate security mechanism to protect the credentials.
  • Make appropriate use of cryptography to protect the credentials.
  • Use industry standards to protect the credentials (e.g. LDAP, keystore, etc.).

More Insufficiently Protected Credentials vulnerabilities (CWE-522)

Timeline

  1. CVE record published.
  2. CISA published its SSVC assessment (exploitation: none, automatable: no, technical impact: total).
  3. Record last changed materially (score, affected products, status or references).

References

Other references

Other vulnerabilities in Rancher

All Rancher vulnerabilities

Recent Insufficiently Protected Credentials vulnerabilities

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