High [CVE-2026-66798] Restore.spec.hooks passed verbatim to Velero Restore — arbitrary command execution in restored pods
This high-severity Red Hat Linux advisory covers CVE-2026-66798 affecting Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.
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Summary
A flaw was found in cluster-backup-operator. A namespace administrator in open-cluster-management-backup can create a Restore Custom Resource (CR) with malicious hooks.
These hooks allow the execution of arbitrary commands within any matching restored pod, leading to the exfiltration of ServiceAccount tokens. This bypasses normal access controls, granting the attacker unauthorized execution access to pods and their associated Service Accounts.
This vulnerability is rated Important as a namespace-admin in the `open-cluster-management-backup` namespace within Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes can execute arbitrary commands in restored pods.
This allows for privilege escalation and exfiltration of ServiceAccount tokens by bypassing standard `pods/exec` authorization, impacting the integrity and confidentiality of the cluster. Red Hat severity: Important — CVSS 8.8 (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H).
Weakness: CWE-77. Red Hat does not currently list a fixing RHSA for this CVE.
Affected product named by the advisory: Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.
Affected versions
No affected-version range was extracted from the source record. The vendor advisory is authoritative — check it before change work.
Official advisory · high-confidence parse· fetched 1 hour ago·verify at source
Fixed versions
No fixed release is recorded yet. That does not prove no patch exists — confirm against the vendor advisory.
Official advisory · high-confidence parse· fetched 1 hour ago·verify at source
Mitigation checklist
- To mitigate this issue, ensure that only highly trusted administrators are granted `namespace-admin` privileges within the `open-cluster-management-backup` namespace. This restricts the ability to create or modify `Restore` Custom Resources with malicious hooks, thereby preventing arbitrary command execution in restored pods.
Official advisory · high-confidence parse· fetched 1 hour ago·verify at source
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