OpenTelemetry Operator: ServiceMonitor bearerTokenFile reads arbitrary local file and sends contents as bearer auth

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The OpenTelemetry Operator is a Kubernetes Operator for the OpenTelemetry Collector. Prior to 0.152.0, cmd/otel-allocator TargetAllocator instances with targetAllocator.prometheusCR.enabled set to true preserve a selected ServiceMonitor endpoint's bearerTokenFile value as HTTPClientConfig.Authorization.CredentialsFile. A tenant who can create or update a ServiceMonitor matched by serviceMonitorSelector and serviceMonitorNamespaceSelector can point bearerTokenFile at a file in the Collector pod, including /var/run/secrets/kubernetes.io/serviceaccount/token, and direct scraping to a tenant-controlled endpoint. The Collector reads that file at scrape time and sends its contents as bearer authorization on every scrape interval. Exploitation also requires the Collector service-account token or another sensitive file to be mounted and the Collector to reach the chosen target. The DenyFSAccessThroughSMs control was absent, allowing disclosure of the Collector's service-account JWT or other mounted files, and resulting Kubernetes API impact is limited by the Collector service account's permissions. This issue is fixed in version 0.152.0.

Source published

14 Sep 2026 15:32:56 UTC

Source modified

14 Sep 2026 16:43:18 UTC

Observed here

23 Oct 2026 15:48:27 UTC

Source terms

CVE Program Terms of Use

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CVSS 3.1 · 7.7 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N

The OpenTelemetry Operator is a Kubernetes Operator for the OpenTelemetry Collector. Prior to 0.152.0, cmd/otel-allocator TargetAllocator instances with targetAllocator.prometheusCR.enabled set to true preserve a selected ServiceMonitor endpoint's bearerTokenFile value as HTTPClientConfig.Authorization.CredentialsFile. A tenant who can create or update a ServiceMonitor matched by serviceMonitorSelector and serviceMonitorNamespaceSelector can point bearerTokenFile at a file in the Collector pod, including /var/run/secrets/kubernetes.io/serviceaccount/token, and direct scraping to a tenant-controlled endpoint. The Collector reads that file at scrape time and sends its contents as bearer authorization on every scrape interval. Exploitation also requires the Collector service-account token or another sensitive file to be mounted and the Collector to reach the chosen target. The DenyFSAccessThroughSMs control was absent, allowing disclosure of the Collector's service-account JWT or other mounted files, and resulting Kubernetes API impact is limited by the Collector service account's permissions. This issue is fixed in version 0.152.0.

Source published

Sep 14, 2026, 3:32:56 PM (timezone not stated)

Source modified

Sep 14, 2026, 4:43:18 PM (timezone not stated)

Observed here

11 Nov 2026 13:00:44 UTC

Source terms

ENISA EUVD · source terms and attribution apply

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This view projects the publisher's source fields for reading; the original JSON retains additional fields and CVE enrichment containers. Attribution: euvd · ENISA EUVD · source terms and attribution apply. Source text is retained; field grouping and change labels are provided by ChangeIntel.

EUVD CVSS 3.1 · 7.7 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N

The OpenTelemetry Operator is a Kubernetes Operator for the OpenTelemetry Collector. Prior to 0.152.0, cmd/otel-allocator TargetAllocator instances with targetAllocator.prometheusCR.enabled set to true preserve a selected ServiceMonitor endpoint's bearerTokenFile value as HTTPClientConfig.Authorization.CredentialsFile. A tenant who can create or update a ServiceMonitor matched by serviceMonitorSelector and serviceMonitorNamespaceSelector can point bearerTokenFile at a file in the Collector pod, including /var/run/secrets/kubernetes.io/serviceaccount/token, and direct scraping to a tenant-controlled endpoint. The Collector reads that file at scrape time and sends its contents as bearer authorization on every scrape interval. Exploitation also requires the Collector service-account token or another sensitive file to be mounted and the Collector to reach the chosen target. The DenyFSAccessThroughSMs control was absent, allowing disclosure of the Collector's service-account JWT or other mounted files, and resulting Kubernetes API impact is limited by the Collector service account's permissions. This issue is fixed in version 0.152.0.

Source published

14 Sep 2026 16:17:11 UTC

Source modified

25 Sep 2026 14:23:59 UTC

Observed here

25 Oct 2026 12:17:26 UTC

Source terms

NIST NVD usage terms; underlying source attribution retained

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This view projects the publisher's source fields for reading; the original JSON retains additional fields and CVE enrichment containers. Attribution: nvd · NIST NVD usage terms; underlying source attribution retained. Source text is retained; field grouping and change labels are provided by ChangeIntel.

CVSS 3.1 · [email protected] · Secondary · 7.7 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N

## Affected Repository: github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-operator Component: cmd/otel-allocator (TargetAllocator) Companion: Prometheus Operator API types (CRDs) ## Summary OpenTelemetry Operator's TargetAllocator watches `ServiceMonitor` resources via the Prometheus Operator CR watcher and converts each selected endpoint into a Prometheus scrape configuration entry. The endpoint field `bearerTokenFile` is preserved through the conversion as `HTTPClientConfig.Authorization.CredentialsFile`. The OpenTelemetry Collector, configured with the Prometheus receiver, then loads that scrape config and, at scrape time, reads the file from its own pod filesystem and sends the contents as `Authorization: Bearer ...` to the scrape endpoint. A tenant who can create or update a `ServiceMonitor` selected by TargetAllocator can set `bearerTokenFile: /var/run/secrets/kubernetes.io/serviceaccount/token` and a scrape target the tenant controls. The Collector then ships its mounted service account JWT to that target on every scrape interval. The Prometheus Operator project addressed the same primitive via the `ArbitraryFSAccessThroughSMs.Deny` admission/runtime guard. ## Preconditions The OpenTelemetry Collector needs to be deployed with `targetAllocator.prometheusCR.enabled: true` and `serviceMonitorSelector` / `serviceMonitorNamespaceSelector` matching at least one namespace where the attacker can create or update `ServiceMonitor` (or paired with a TargetAllocator resource with the same respective settings). The Collector pod needs to have its service account token mounted. The Collector needs to be able to reach the scrape target chosen by the attacker. ## Impact Tenant `ServiceMonitor` write becomes equivalent to the OpenTelemetry Collector pod's service account against the Kubernetes API. Real impact depends on what the Collector service account is granted in a given deployment. Typical cluster monitoring setups grant pod, node, endpoint, namespace, and service list across the cluster, which is enough to enumerate and identify further targets. The same primitive can read any file the Collector pod has on disk including mounted certificates and other tokens. ## Fix https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-operator/pull/5104 adds support to disable service and podmonitor endpoints that read arbitrary files. `DenyFSAccessThroughSMs` causes the Target Allocator to drop ServiceMonitor and PodMonitor endpoints that reference arbitrary files on the file system. When enabled, endpoints with bearerTokenFile, tlsConfig.caFile, tlsConfig.certFile, or tlsConfig.keyFile are dropped from the produced scrape configuration while the remaining endpoints are kept. This prevents tenants from stealing the Collector's service account token via ServiceMonitor bearerTokenFile references. This is the equivalent of `ArbitraryFSAccessThroughSMs.Deny` from the Prometheus Operator.

Source published

10 Jun 2026 17:24:01 UTC

Source modified

10 Sep 2026 03:51:08 UTC

Observed here

24 Oct 2026 13:19:41 UTC

Source terms

GitHub Advisory Database · CC-BY-4.0

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This view projects the publisher's source fields for reading; the original JSON retains additional fields and CVE enrichment containers. Attribution: osv · GitHub Advisory Database · CC-BY-4.0. Source text is retained; field grouping and change labels are provided by ChangeIntel.

CVSS_V3 · CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N

Publisher rating · HIGH

OpenTelemetry Operator for Kubernetes's ServiceMonitor bearerTokenFile reads arbitrary local file and sends contents as bearer auth in github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-operator

Source published

25 Jun 2026 18:43:19 UTC

Source modified

25 Jun 2026 19:45:31 UTC

Observed here

24 Oct 2026 13:19:41 UTC

Source terms

OSV · upstream source license applies

Original source record · Cite this exact observation · Complete original publisher JSON

This view projects the publisher's source fields for reading; the original JSON retains additional fields and CVE enrichment containers. Attribution: osv · OSV · upstream source license applies. Source text is retained; field grouping and change labels are provided by ChangeIntel.