EUVD-2026-42530Severity by source
AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N
AC:H overrides vendor AC:L because five concurrent non-default conditions must hold; PR:H preserved as AD group-write access is a privileged AD capability.
Primary rating from Vendor (vmware).
CVSS VectorVendor: vmware
Lifecycle Timeline
2DescriptionCVE.org
A user authenticating to Kubernetes clusters via the Pinniped Supervisor could potentially gain elevated permissions in the clusters, only if all the following conditions were true: the Pinniped Supervisor server is running with an ActiveDirectoryIdentityProvider resource configured; the ActiveDirectoryIdentityProvider.spec.groupSearch.attributes.groupName is empty; the attacker gains the ability to edit some part of the distinguished name (DN) of group entries in the Active Directory (AD) server's database for groups to which they belong; the configured group search parameters cause the edited group to be included in the group search results for the user; and the attacker knows the password for an AD user who belongs to the edited AD group. Affected versions: Pinniped (go.pinniped.dev) v0.11.0 through v0.46.0 inclusive; fixed in v0.47.0.
AnalysisAI
Privilege escalation in VMware Pinniped's Kubernetes authentication layer allows an attacker who already controls Active Directory group distinguished names to gain elevated Kubernetes RBAC permissions beyond their legitimate entitlements. The flaw affects Pinniped v0.11.0 through v0.46.0 when the Supervisor is configured with an ActiveDirectoryIdentityProvider and a specific empty groupName attribute, and only when an attacker simultaneously holds write access to AD group entries and valid AD user credentials. No public exploit code exists and this is not listed in CISA KEV; the vendor CVSS score of 3.8 (Low) reflects the highly constrained exploitation prerequisites.
Technical ContextAI
Pinniped (go.pinniped.dev, CPE cpe:2.3:a:vmware:pinniped) is VMware's open-source identity federation and single sign-on layer for Kubernetes, enabling clusters to delegate authentication to external identity providers including Active Directory via LDAP. The ActiveDirectoryIdentityProvider resource drives group membership lookup during authentication. When groupSearch.attributes.groupName is left empty, Pinniped's group resolver likely falls back to incorporating the full LDAP Distinguished Name (DN) of a group object as the Kubernetes group claim value. Because Active Directory's DN is composed of mutable Relative Distinguished Name (RDN) components - including the CN and OU hierarchy - an attacker with write access to those attributes can craft a DN that exactly matches a Kubernetes RBAC group binding for a higher-privileged role, causing Pinniped to assert that membership claim upon the attacker's next authentication. No CWE was formally assigned, but this is consistent with CWE-269 (Improper Privilege Management) or CWE-706 (Use of Incorrectly-Resolved Name or Reference) depending on the root-cause framing.
RemediationAI
Upgrade Pinniped to v0.47.0, which is the vendor-released patched version confirmed in the GitHub advisory at https://github.com/vmware/pinniped/security/advisories/GHSA-7xq8-m6h6-2xg8. As an immediate workaround prior to patching, set a non-empty value for ActiveDirectoryIdentityProvider.spec.groupSearch.attributes.groupName in your Pinniped Supervisor configuration so that a specific LDAP attribute (e.g., the sAMAccountName or cn attribute) is used as the group name claim rather than the full DN; this closes the DN-manipulation vector without requiring a code upgrade but does require a config change and Supervisor restart. Additionally, audit Active Directory permissions to ensure no non-administrative principals hold write access to group DN components. Organizations should also review Kubernetes RBAC ClusterRoleBindings and RoleBindings that reference AD-sourced group names to confirm no over-permissive mappings exist that could be reached via a crafted DN.
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