Medium Info disclosure

CVE-2026-7163 — Assisted-service: assisted-service: authenticated users can gain administrative access to openshift clusters via credential disclosure

A vulnerability in the assisted-service REST API, an optional Assisted Installer (assisted-service) component in the Multicluster Engine (MCE), allows an authenticated user with minimal namespace-scoped privileges to obtain administrative credentials for arbitrary clusters provisioned through the hub. The credentials download endpoint (GET /v2/clusters/{cluster_id}/credentials, which returns the kubeadmin password) and the kubeconfig download endpoint are operational in AUTH_TYPE=local mode, the only authentication mode available in on-premises ACM/MCE hub deployments. The local authenticator unconditionally grants full administrative access to any request bearing a valid JWT, with no per-endpoint restrictions. A valid local JWT is embedded as a plaintext query parameter in InfraEnvStatus.ISODownloadURL and is readable by any user who has get rights on an InfraEnv object in their own namespace. The affected components ship as part of Multicluster Engine (MCE). The Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management (ACM) deployments that include MCE are equally affected. This issue does not affect the hosted SaaS offering (console.redhat.com), which uses a different authentication mode. Successful exploitation gives the attacker the kubeadmin password and kubeconfig for any OpenShift cluster provisioned through the affected hub, granting unrestricted root-level administrative access to those spoke clusters.

Published Apr 30, 2026 · Updated Oct 13, 2026 · Sources: NIST National Vulnerability Database, CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP · CNA: redhat

Low

Who exploits it and how urgent it is

A 0–100 score combining confirmed exploitation, ransomware and APT use, public exploits, EPSS and severity.

No exploitation signal in the sources consulted so far.

How the score was calculated

EPSS 0.2% (30-day exploitation probability)+1
Technical severity (medium)+3

The score orders the patch queue; it does not replace your asset context (internet exposure, criticality, compensating controls).

Triage

Is it exploited, how likely is exploitation, what does it touch, and how severe do the sources call it.

Exploitation

Not confirmed

Not in CISA KEV — an absence of record, not proof it is unexploited.

EPSS FIRST

0.2%

ahead of 10% of scored CVEs · Oct 14, 2026

Affects

Red Hat

Multicluster Engine For Kubernetes and 4 more

CVSS base

5.5

Medium · 4 source(s)

Prioritization reference: 6.1 provisional

CISA SSVC assessment CISA

Three decision points CISA publishes for the CVEs it assesses (SSVC 2.0.3). A stakeholder decision, not a severity score.

Exploitation

None

none · proof-of-concept · active

Automatable

can an attacker script the kill-chain steps

Technical impact

Partial

partial · total control of the vulnerable component

Remediation

Fixes and mitigations documented by the sources — linked to the original advisory.

No fix documented by the sources we poll. That does not mean none exists: check the vendor advisory.

First 24 hours

Ordered from the record’s own fields — exposure first, because you cannot patch what you have not found. A rule-generated starting point.

Identify exposed assets running the affected vendor/product/version combinations (Red Hat Multicluster Engine For Kubernetes, Red Hat multicluster engine for Kubernetes 2.1, Red Hat multicluster engine for Kubernetes 2.11…).
No fix documented in the sources: reduce exposure and monitor the vendor advisory.
Search available logs for exploit probes matching the vulnerability class (info disclosure), errors and authentication anomalies.

Affected scope

Vendor, product and versions as the sources word them.

Vendor	Product	Versions	Status	Source
Red Hat	Multicluster Engine For Kubernetes	version 2.1version 2.7	Vulnerable	NIST National Vulnerability Database
Red Hat	multicluster engine for Kubernetes 2.1	versions not specified by the source	Vulnerable	CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP
Red Hat	multicluster engine for Kubernetes 2.11	versions not specified by the source	Vulnerable	CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP
Red Hat	multicluster engine for Kubernetes 2.7	versions not specified by the source	Vulnerable	CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP
Red Hat	multicluster engine for Kubernetes 2.9	versions not specified by the source	Vulnerable	CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP

Attack characteristics

The CVSS vector, decoded. It describes the attack, not your exposure to it.

Attack vector

Local

Attack complexity

Low

Privileges required

Low

User interaction

None

Scope

Unchanged

Confidentiality

High

Integrity

None

Availability

None

Every base score collected

Sources score independently and may disagree; each row says who scored it and under which version.

Score	Version	Severity	Expl.	Impact	Scored by
6.1	CVSS 3.1	Medium	1.7	4.0	secalert@redhat.com via NIST National Vulnerability Database
6.1	CVSS 3.1	Medium	1.7	4.0	0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c via NIST National Vulnerability Database
6.1	CVSS 3.1	Medium	—	—	redhat via CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP
5.5	CVSS 3.1	Medium	1.8	3.6	nvd@nist.gov via NIST National Vulnerability Database

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N (score shown at the top: nvd@nist.gov)

Scoring entities (NIST, CNA, ADP) score independently; each score is shown with its origin. For prioritization we use 6.1 (secalert@redhat.com via NIST National Vulnerability Database) as a conservative provisional reference — not a definitive official score.

Weakness MITRE

Weakness class according to MITRE’s CWE catalog.

CWE-312 · Cleartext Storage of Sensitive Information

Other CVEs with this weakness →

EPSS over time FIRST

Oct 13, 2026 → Oct 14, 2026 · 2 reading(s) · max 0.20%

Detection

Read off the CVSS vector and the weakness class. Starting points, not tested rules.

Local/physical vector: focus on endpoint telemetry (EDR) from affected hosts.
Look for anomalous data read/export volumes and access to sensitive records.

endpoint telemetry (EDR)application logsauthentication logs

Timeline

What happened to this CVE, newest first.

2026
Affected products added · red hat/multicluster engine for kubernetes 2.1, red hat/multicluster engine for kubernetes 2.11, red hat/multicluster en
Oct 13, 2026 · CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP
SSVC assessment updated
Oct 13, 2026 · CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP
Record published
Oct 13, 2026
CVSS changed · 5.5
Oct 13, 2026 · NIST National Vulnerability Database
Source status changed · → Modified
Oct 13, 2026 · NIST National Vulnerability Database
Record created in this database
Oct 13, 2026 · NIST National Vulnerability Database
CVE published
Apr 30, 2026 · redhat

Source activity

Repeated readings are counted rather than listed.

1× Official description updated · Oct 13, 2026 – Oct 13, 2026

References

9 on the record

access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:12116
Vendor Advisory, vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT, NIST National Vulnerability Database
access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-7163
Vendor Advisory, vdb-entry, x_refsource_REDHAT, NIST National Vulnerability Database
access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:11512
Vendor Advisory, vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT, NIST National Vulnerability Database
access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:11511
Vendor Advisory, vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT, NIST National Vulnerability Database
access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:12337
Vendor Advisory, vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT, NIST National Vulnerability Database
security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-7163.json
NIST National Vulnerability Database
bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi
Issue Tracking, issue-tracking, x_refsource_REDHAT, NIST National Vulnerability Database
access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:18584
vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT, NIST National Vulnerability Database
access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:18585
vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT, NIST National Vulnerability Database

Elsewhere on this site

Red Hat
every CVE for this vendor

Info disclosure
same class

CWE-312
other pages naming this weakness

Related CVEs (same products)

Medium CVE-2026-71299 Maestro: maestro: rest api write endpoints registered without authentication middleware 10d
Medium CVE-2026-71298 Maestro: sql identifier injection via properties.* search filter and orderby field 10d
Medium CVE-2026-71297 Maestro: maestro: grpc broker has no auth interceptor and client mtls is optional 10d
High CVE-2026-101919 Hypershift: hypershift: unsanitized kubeconfig passthrough from tenant namespace to control plane 10d
Critical CVE-2026-10059 Cluster-curator-controller: cluster-curator-controller: namespace admin can escalate to cluster-wide curator authority via clustercurator serviceaccount token Aug 5, 2026
High CVE-2026-17107 Cluster-proxy: impersonation-header injection grants cluster-admin on every managed cluster Jul 24, 2026

Not in any source we poll

Listed rather than left blank: an empty field and an unmeasured one look identical on screen, and only one is a reason to look elsewhere.

No fixed version, patch or mitigation documented.
No confirmed IOCs, IP addresses, domains, file hashes, or malware artifacts supplied.
No organization-specific asset inventory, compensating-control status, or patch deployment evidence supplied.
No exploit packet captures, log samples, or incident case IDs supplied.

Answered from this record

Text assembled only from the fields above — no additional claims.

What should defenders know first?

CVE-2026-7163 is "Assisted-service: assisted-service: authenticated users can gain administrative access to openshift clusters via credential disclosure", rated Medium. It affects Multicluster Engine For Kubernetes (Red Hat); versions are in the scope table. It is not in CISA KEV, which does not rule out exploitation. CVSS 5.5 describes technical severity. EPSS 0.20% estimates the probability of exploitation in 30 days; neither replaces your asset context. First verify whether exposed or business-critical assets run the affected versions, apply vendor fixes or mitigations, and preserve logs for review.

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