A critical security vulnerability has been discovered in SUSE’s Fleet management system that exposes sensitive Helm chart configuration data through unencrypted storage mechanisms. The flaw affects how Fleet handles BundleDeployment resources, potentially compromising credentials and other confidential information stored within Kubernetes clusters.
Technical Details of the Vulnerability
The vulnerability stems from Fleet’s handling of sensitive information passed through BundleDeployment.Spec.Options.Helm.Values, which is stored in plain text format rather than being properly encrypted.
This creates a significant security gap, as any user with GET or LIST permissions on BundleDeployment resources can access Helm values containing credentials, API keys, passwords, and other sensitive data.
Unlike Helm v3’s default security approach, which stores chart state and values in Kubernetes secrets with built-in protection mechanisms, Fleet’s implementation bypasses these safeguards.
The vulnerability is particularly concerning because BundleDeployment resources are not configured for Kubernetes encryption at rest by default, leaving sensitive values completely unprotected within the cluster datastore.
The exposure occurs both at the storage level and during API responses, creating multiple attack vectors for malicious actors. This behavior aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK framework’s T1555 technique, which focuses on credentials extraction from password stores.
The ultimate impact severity depends on the permissions associated with the exposed credentials and their access to external services.
Patches and Remediation Efforts
SUSE has addressed this vulnerability through comprehensive patches that fundamentally change how Fleet handles sensitive data. The solution introduces dedicated secret storage capabilities for each Bundle and BundleDeployment resource, ensuring proper encryption and access controls.
The patched system implements a multi-layered approach: the git job executing fleet apply now creates secrets specifically for Helm values.
At the same time, the Fleet controller generates BundleDeployments and creates individual Helm values secrets per bundle deployment within the cluster namespace.
The Fleet agent has been updated to utilize the BundleDeployment for options, content resources, and the newly created secrets to deploy bundles securely.
Organizations can upgrade to the patched versions, including Fleet releases v0.14.0, v0.13.1, v0.12.6, and v0.11.10, to eliminate this vulnerability.
Immediate Workarounds and Best Practices
For organizations unable to immediately upgrade, SUSE recommends implementing workarounds by modifying how valuesFiles paths are specified.
Instead of using complex paths like config-chart/values.yaml, administrators should use simple file names such as values.yaml to ensure proper exclusion from vulnerable storage mechanisms.
Organizations should immediately review their Fleet deployments to identify potentially exposed sensitive data and implement credential rotation for any compromised secrets, tokens, or passwords.
Additionally, implementing proper Kubernetes RBAC policies can limit access to BundleDeployment resources, reducing the attack surface while patches are being deployed.
Find this Story Interesting! Follow us on Google News , LinkedIn and X to Get More Instant Updates
