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Full vulnerability report · 2026
CVE-2026-66793High confidence

Governance-policy-addon-controller: governance-policy-addon-controller: arbitrary container image override via managedclusteraddon annotation enables rce on spoke

Red Hat · Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.11

Official source article: Red Hat RHSA-2026:60386 ↗. Check the applicable product and release in the original source.

8.8HighCVSS 3.1
Recommended action
Within 7 days

High technical severity; prioritise exposed affected systems while verifying vendor guidance.

Patch available
R
Operational reassessment

Published severity in operational context

Open reassessment dashboard →
Published severityHighOperational priority:High, unchanged from published severity.unchanged

Evidence used

  • No CISA KEV confirmation is currently recorded.
  • EPSS is 0.81% for the current model date.

Compensating controls

  • Validate the affected product branch and deploy the verified fixed release.
  • Restrict the affected network interface to trusted sources where business-safe.
  • Monitor vendor guidance and exploitation sources for a material change.

Verification

  1. Confirm that the asset runs Red Hat Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.11 and falls inside the recorded affected range.
  2. Verify the installed build against the product-specific fixed version after deployment.
  3. Validate exposure, authentication requirements and compensating controls in the actual environment.
  4. Reopen this reassessment when CVSS, KEV, EPSS, exploit evidence or remediation changes.
Mitigation target: Within 30 daysRemediation target: Within 180 days

This automated reassessment organises public evidence. It does not know asset exposure, business impact or control effectiveness and does not replace CVSS or a human risk decision.

Direct vendor intelligence

Authoritative vendor CSAF and VEX advisories

Structured product status and remediation from the issuing vendor. Product-state explanations are always visible; large lists can be searched or downloaded.

1 current
CVE-2026-66793 · CSAF 2.0 · revision 3 · finalRed Hat Product Securitygovernance-policy-addon-controller: governance-policy-addon-controller: arbitrary container image override via ManagedClusterAddOn annotation enables RCE on spoke
24 fixed

The vendor explicitly identifies these products or versions as containing the fix.

  • registry.redhat.io/rhacm2/acm-governance-policy-addon-controller-rhel9@sha256:753988c61167dea55ea388970f7cd0e104255428d77b044fe95982303088bc80_s390x as a component of Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.11
  • registry.redhat.io/rhacm2/acm-governance-policy-addon-controller-rhel9@sha256:895b7f64d5973271d98b80e61cd0d5c47050ba2400730451130396860579ed7a_arm64 as a component of Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.11
  • registry.redhat.io/rhacm2/acm-governance-policy-addon-controller-rhel9@sha256:c74c6edae34bb6c8a99c70b83af3924bde6f79798099152480fd4c5026e2e41d_amd64 as a component of Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.11
  • registry.redhat.io/rhacm2/acm-governance-policy-addon-controller-rhel9@sha256:d60d5c8df956a23c5f1b9f2729f3ea1d04e18da199229e0c2da000a4650f93db_ppc64le as a component of Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.11
  • registry.redhat.io/rhacm2/acm-governance-policy-addon-controller-rhel9@sha256:2a1df1c70a6a3dd95eb2877eb35bbcce416b6044c3b71234fb1273d83799e1fe_s390x as a component of Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.13
  • registry.redhat.io/rhacm2/acm-governance-policy-addon-controller-rhel9@sha256:31296820926e0f958215ae4c776ce8f826838aae4029e4af9ae704d1bf90886a_amd64 as a component of Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.13
  • registry.redhat.io/rhacm2/acm-governance-policy-addon-controller-rhel9@sha256:b1770871427e322b73ccf5eb2cc946cd5286560596dcdc1291aef4c658c4f732_ppc64le as a component of Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.13
  • registry.redhat.io/rhacm2/acm-governance-policy-addon-controller-rhel9@sha256:ee89dcfa01bb0b18acc6760b1fe7671450d2571bedb0e46c6499a23b5e3d0fae_arm64 as a component of Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.13
  • registry.redhat.io/rhacm2/acm-governance-policy-addon-controller-rhel9@sha256:06301d071487eb482f722f9c57d0ae97e443805e2dead80cd749356a740ce4d6_s390x as a component of Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.14
  • registry.redhat.io/rhacm2/acm-governance-policy-addon-controller-rhel9@sha256:2f042287a3cd6e75689dabd88df49d8902b099d3985d4a179d029d6b6ce48f99_amd64 as a component of Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.14
  • registry.redhat.io/rhacm2/acm-governance-policy-addon-controller-rhel9@sha256:8641fb7eee40486034b35b73bd5b89e98abee759c944d518cd48db194f22d7d6_arm64 as a component of Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.14
  • registry.redhat.io/rhacm2/acm-governance-policy-addon-controller-rhel9@sha256:e243d68950ebaf06ebeb03959470c8ad31240baae385d8b40448b4a995988e44_ppc64le as a component of Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.14
Summary
A flaw was found in the governance-policy-addon-controller component of Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes. A user with permissions to annotate the namespaced ManagedClusterAddOn resource can override the governance-policy container image. This allows an attacker to run a controlled image with cluster-admin privileges on the managed cluster, leading to arbitrary code execution and privilege escalation.
Remediation
Before you apply this update, make sure all previously released errata that are relevant to your system are applied. For details on how to apply this update, refer to: https://access.redhat.com/articles/11258
Optional official sources

National CERT insights
?CERT means Computer Emergency Response Team; CSIRT is the closely related term Computer Security Incident Response Team.

Choose official national sources for this report. Each advisory shows its original language. Your selection is remembered on this device and included in shared links.

Official European source

ENISA European Vulnerability Database

Official EUVD identifiers, advisory evidence and known-exploited context. Missing fields are not treated as evidence of low risk.

1 current
ENISA EUVD identifier

EUVD-2026-60951

No EUVD known-exploited evidence

A flaw was found in the governance-policy-addon-controller component of Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes. A user with permissions to annotate the namespaced ManagedClusterAddOn resource can override the governance-policy container image. This allows an attacker to run a controlled image with cluster-admin privileges on the managed cluster, leading to arbitrary code execution and privilege escalation.

EUVD state
Present in the current official mapping
Known exploitation
Not present in the current ENISA EUVD known-exploited dataset. This is not proof of no exploitation.
ENISA score
8.8 · CVSS 3.1
Advisory evidence
No linked advisory details stored yet
Recommended actionWithin 7 days

High technical severity; prioritise exposed affected systems while verifying vendor guidance.

Patch available
01

What, why and how

A flaw was found in the governance-policy-addon-controller component of Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes. A user with permissions to annotate the namespaced ManagedClusterAddOn resource can override the governance-policy container image. This allows an attacker to run a controlled image with cluster-admin privileges on the managed cluster, leading to arbitrary code execution and privilege escalation.

What

A flaw was found in the governance-policy-addon-controller component of Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes. A user with permissions to annotate the namespaced ManagedClusterAddOn resource can override the governance-policy container image. This allows an attacker to run a controlled image with cluster-admin privileges on the managed cluster, leading to arbitrary code execution and privilege escalation.

Why

The product receives input or data, but it does not validate or incorrectly validates that the input has the properties that are required to process the data safely and correctly.

How

An attacker operating through a network path may attempt exploitation with low privileges. If successful, the issue may execute code or commands in the affected security context.

What

A flaw was found in the governance-policy-addon-controller component of Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes. A user with permissions to annotate the namespaced ManagedClusterAddOn resource can override the governance-policy container image. This allows an attacker to run a controlled image with cluster-admin privileges on the managed cluster, leading to arbitrary code execution and privilege escalation.

Why

The product receives input or data, but it does not validate or incorrectly validates that the input has the properties that are required to process the data safely and correctly.

How

An attacker operating through a network path may attempt exploitation with low privileges. If successful, the issue may execute code or commands in the affected security context.

02

Exploit reality and attack path

CVSS severity, EPSS forecast probability, public exploit material and CISA-confirmed exploitation are separate signals.

Observed exploitation
?Confirmed exploitation and public exploit material are separate signals. Attacks can occur without public proof-of-concept or exploit code.
No confirmed evidence

No CISA KEV match was present at the last successful refresh. This means no confirmation from that source, not proof of no exploitation.

Public PoC / exploit material
?Confirmed exploitation and public exploit material are separate signals. Attacks can occur without public proof-of-concept or exploit code.
None recorded

No exploit-tagged reference or CISA SSVC proof-of-concept state is currently recorded. Research may still exist outside the structured feeds.

Likely attack path
a network path → Improper Input Validation → execute code or commands in the affected security context
Attack surface
Network
Privileges required
Low: a basic authenticated account is required
User interaction
None
Attack complexity
Low: no specialised conditions are recorded
Security boundary
Unchanged: impact remains within the vulnerable component's security authority
Weakness
?CWE means Common Weakness Enumeration: a standard category for the underlying weakness.
CWE-20 ↗

CWE-20: Improper Input Validation. The product receives input or data, but it does not validate or incorrectly validates that the input has the properties that are required to process the data safely and correctly.

CVSS vector
?CVSS means Common Vulnerability Scoring System. The vector records the metric values used to calculate technical severity.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Common Vulnerability Scoring System 3.1: the compact vector below is decoded into plain language.

AVNetworkAttack vector: The vulnerable component can be reached over a network.ACLowAttack complexity: No specialised conditions are required beyond attacker-controlled input.PRLowPrivileges required: The attacker needs basic user-level privileges.UINoneUser interaction: No action by another user is required.SUnchangedScope: The security impact remains within the vulnerable component's authority.CHighConfidentiality impact: A successful attack can cause a major loss.IHighIntegrity impact: A successful attack can cause a major loss.AHighAvailability impact: A successful attack can cause a major loss.
Post-exploitation / living off the land
After compromise, an attacker may use built-in shells, scripting engines, scheduled tasks and native network utilities for discovery, persistence or movement. This is a plausible LoTL path, not evidence that it has occurred for every attack.
NetworkRemote code executionPrivilege escalationCWE-20
A

Official authority intelligence

Only matched European and national findings are included. Language selectors and unavailable sources are omitted.

ENISA EUVD · EUVD-2026-60951Official EUVD mapping

A flaw was found in the governance-policy-addon-controller component of Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes. A user with permissions to annotate the namespaced ManagedClusterAddOn resource can override the governance-policy container image. This allows an attacker to run a controlled image with cluster-admin privileges on the managed cluster, leading to arbitrary code execution and privilege escalation.

Official EUVD record ↗
03

Patch and workaround

Operational remediation based on structured source evidence.

Status
?Patch availability is based on structured fixed-version fields and authoritative update references. If no fix is verified, check the vendor advisory before making a change.
Patch available
Affected
Fixed
Action
Before you apply this update, make sure all previously released errata that are relevant to your system are applied. For details on how to apply this update, refer to: https://access.redhat.com/articles/11258
Workaround
No verified workaround is recorded. If business-safe, reduce exposure to the affected interface and allow only trusted sources until authoritative guidance is available.
04

Evidence and provenance

Published 18 Aug 2026 · Last source change 5 Sept 2026, 14:23 UTC · CWE-20 · Improper Input Validation

CVE recordCVE.org · 5.2
CVSS sourceCNA
EPSS source
?The date BlackTree first stored a score for this CVE from the daily FIRST EPSS feed.
FIRST · tracked since 2026-08-23
European sourceENISA EUVD · EUVD-2026-60951
Product sourceCNA
Remediation sourceVendor CSAF · Red Hat Product Security
CWE sourceCNA
NVD statusNVD awaiting enrichment

Missing structured fields: affected versions. Missing data is not evidence of low risk; review the primary advisory.

Material change intelligence

What changed after publication

View recent updates ↗
  1. Vendor guidanceAuthoritative vendor guidance changed from remediation: access.redhat.com/CVE-2026-66793 to remediation: access.redhat.com/CVE-2026-66793.
    Before
    remediation: access.redhat.com/CVE-2026-66793
    After
    remediation: access.redhat.com/CVE-2026-66793
    Red Hat Product Security ↗
  2. Remediation statusRemediation status changed from Mitigation available to Patch available.
    Before
    Mitigation available
    After
    Patch available
    Red Hat Product Security ↗
  3. Affected versionsThe structured affected or fixed version information changed.
    Before
    rhacm2/acm-governance-policy-addon-controller-rhel9 as a component of Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2
    After
    Fixed: registry.redhat.io/rhacm2/acm-governance-policy-addon-controller-rhel9@sha256:753988c61167dea55ea388970f7cd0e104255428d77b044fe95982303088bc80_s390x as a component of Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.11; registry.redhat.io/rhacm2/acm-governance-policy-addon-controller-rhel9@sha256:895b7f64d5973271d98b80e61cd0d5c47050ba2400730451130396860579ed7a_arm64 as a component of Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.11; registry.redhat.io/rhacm2/acm-governance-policy-addon-controller-rhel9@sha256:c74c6edae34bb6c8a99c70b83af3924bde6f79798099152480fd4c5026e2e41d_amd64 as a component of Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.11; registry.redhat.io/rhacm2/acm-governance-policy-addon-controller-rhel9@sha256:d60d5c8df956a23c5f1b9f2729f3ea1d04e18da199229e0c2da000a4650f93db_ppc64le as a component of Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.11; registry.redhat.io/rhacm2/acm-governance-policy-addon-controller-rhel9@sha256:2a1df1c70a6a3dd95eb2877eb35bbcce416b6044c3b71234fb1273d83799e1fe_s390x as a component of Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.13; registry.redhat.io/rhacm2/acm-governance-policy-addon-controller-rhel9@sha256:31296820926e0f958215ae4c776ce8f826838aae4029e4af9ae704d1bf90886a_amd64 as a component of Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.13; registry.redhat.io/rhacm2/acm-governance-policy-addon-controller-rhel9@sha256:b1770871427e322b73ccf5eb2cc946cd5286560596dcdc1291aef4c658c4f732_ppc64le as a component of Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.13; registry.redhat.io/rhacm2/acm-governance-policy-addon-controller-rhel9@sha256:ee89dcfa01bb0b18acc6760b1fe7671450d2571bedb0e46c6499a23b5e3d0fae_arm64 as a component of Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.13; registry.redhat.io/rhacm2/acm-governance-policy-addon-controller-rhel9@sha256:06301d071487eb482f722f9c57d0ae97e443805e2dead80cd749356a740ce4d6_s390x as a component of Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.14; registry.redhat.io/rhacm2/acm-governance-policy-addon-controller-rhel9@sha256:2f042287a3cd6e75689dabd88df49d8902b099d3985d4a179d029d6b6ce48f99_amd64 as a component of Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.14; registry.redhat.io/rhacm2/acm-governance-policy-addon-controller-rhel9@sha256:8641fb7eee40486034b35b73bd5b89e98abee759c944d518cd48db194f22d7d6_arm64 as a component of Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.14; registry.redhat.io/rhacm2/acm-governance-policy-addon-controller-rhel9@sha256:e243d68950ebaf06ebeb03959470c8ad31240baae385d8b40448b4a995988e44_ppc64le as a component of Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.14; registry.redhat.io/rhacm2/acm-governance-policy-addon-controller-rhel9@sha256:0b7d15a77efc47fb2bc6a9d6f259847607db76052afad1ebb6f3426bc2adb717_amd64 as a component of Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.15; registry.redhat.io/rhacm2/acm-governance-policy-addon-controller-rhel9@sha256:0e4b736a5947d7831f1a070909e7cdb27502cfae90f04b03068826486a3eaed9_ppc64le as a component of Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.15; registry.redhat.io/rhacm2/acm-governance-policy-addon-controller-rhel9@sha256:2fa9a6fbc5dfa7c6f37c42ecf17d2510dd1c01b4376c79951b5ae5499c30b828_arm64 as a component of Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.15; registry.redhat.io/rhacm2/acm-governance-policy-addon-controller-rhel9@sha256:be0871d3c4e2596842eaca587e2e0c591f0738531dd0eb0536f5b364ef02b106_s390x as a component of Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.15; registry.redhat.io/rhacm2/acm-governance-policy-addon-controller-rhel9@sha256:149838709f1fd62534ebb5d175b0e0ba4035b1c89aa3afb2a37943448bcb371e_amd64 as a component of Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.16; registry.redhat.io/rhacm2/acm-governance-policy-addon-controller-rhel9@sha256:223265ea583a448d4fda8bdd96daf283a94c8e7a2f8d346a3a3c6e8484d62acf_s390x as a component of Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.16; registry.redhat.io/rhacm2/acm-governance-policy-addon-controller-rhel9@sha256:75d8599c64a15927af46663f6939cb2e2fbac28ade8f35be895b1c9ac88f94e6_ppc64le as a component of Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.16; registry.redhat.io/rhacm2/acm-governance-policy-addon-controller-rhel9@sha256:9b710c6db4d80628c3db5e01ffbfe1875d07ecbb66490ff64e183db81b1ed904_arm64 as a component of Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.16; registry.redhat.io/rhacm2/acm-governance-policy-addon-controller-rhel9@sha256:14f7cf32bf88a55240d2051c351eba8d04f331f6370de6a2835cd15aa3cb3c00_arm64 as a component of Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.17; registry.redhat.io/rhacm2/acm-governance-policy-addon-controller-rhel9@sha256:2d042eb4e9baa8e3e34fb89bfae2794ac3440bc4f2c2ff12fe69f7b1ef31b61d_s390x as a component of Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.17; registry.redhat.io/rhacm2/acm-governance-policy-addon-controller-rhel9@sha256:85ecae5864fa41b1c7350b6cc1f0533fcd855c7e7f2d3b34e0b2d5cd5fa189ba_ppc64le as a component of Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.17; registry.redhat.io/rhacm2/acm-governance-policy-addon-controller-rhel9@sha256:bbc88fa78f9bc9dfef03fcea1315d34c8d2e915814815a7767315e44ab10aeed_amd64 as a component of Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.17
    Red Hat Product Security ↗
  4. Affected versionsThe structured affected or fixed version information changed.
    Before
    See the vendor and CVE records for the affected range. · Fixed: 1787683327 < *; 1787259078 < *; 1787080755 < *; 1787238535 < *; 1787080753 < *; 1787227696 < *
    After
    See the vendor and CVE records for the affected range. · Fixed: Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.11: 1787683327 < *; Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.13: 1787259078 < *; Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.14: 1787080755 < *; Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.15: 1787238535 < *; Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.16: 1787080753 < *; Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.17: 1787227696 < *
    CNA ↗
  5. Affected versionsThe structured affected or fixed version information changed.
    Before
    See the vendor and CVE records for the affected range. · Fixed: 1787259078 < *; 1787238535 < *; 1787227696 < *
    After
    See the vendor and CVE records for the affected range. · Fixed: 1787683327 < *; 1787259078 < *; 1787080755 < *; 1787238535 < *; 1787080753 < *; 1787227696 < *
    CNA ↗
  6. Vendor guidanceAuthoritative vendor guidance changed: added remediation: access.redhat.com/RHSA-2026:60386.
    Before
    no authoritative guidance recorded
    After
    remediation: access.redhat.com/RHSA-2026:60386
    CNA ↗
  7. Affected versionsThe structured affected or fixed version information changed.
    Before
    See the vendor and CVE records for the affected range. · Fixed: No fixed version is explicitly recorded in the structured CVE data.
    After
    See the vendor and CVE records for the affected range. · Fixed: 1787259078 < *; 1787238535 < *; 1787227696 < *
    CNA ↗
  8. Remediation statusRemediation status changed from Awaiting fix to Patch available.
    Before
    Awaiting fix
    After
    Patch available
    CNA ↗
  9. Catalogue recordCVE added to the BlackTree catalogue.
    CNA ↗
Material fields only · duplicate refreshes suppressed · history retained for the configured operational retention period
CVE published
Fixed release or patch reference recorded
ENISA EUVD · EUVD-2026-60951↗Vendor CSAF · Red Hat Product Security↗CVE authority or vendor reference · Red Hat RHSA-2026:60386↗Official CVE record (CNA and ADP data)↗NVD record↗
Technical terms and abbreviations used in this report
CVE
Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures: the public identifier for one disclosed vulnerability.
CVSS
Common Vulnerability Scoring System: a technical severity framework; it is not patching priority by itself.
EPSS
Exploit Prediction Scoring System: FIRST's estimate of the probability that exploitation activity will be observed in the next 30 days; it is a forecast, not confirmation.
CWE
Common Weakness Enumeration: the standard category describing the underlying software or hardware weakness.
CNA
CVE Numbering Authority: an organisation authorised to assign and publish CVE records.
CISA ADP
Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Authorized Data Publisher: structured enrichment added to a CVE record.
NVD
National Vulnerability Database: NIST's enrichment service for CVE records.
CERT / CSIRT
A computer security incident response team that publishes warnings or coordinates incident response.
PoC
Proof of concept: public material that demonstrates or helps reproduce exploitation.
CSAF
Common Security Advisory Framework: a machine-readable format for security advisories.
LoTL
Living off the land: abuse of legitimate tools or system functions during an attack.
Free version - for non-commercial use only.CVE-2026-66793 · cve.blacktree.nl