CVE-2026-61549

HIGHPre-NVD 0.0
0.0
EchelonGraph verdictMonitorLow exploitation likelihood right now — keep watching.
  • No confirmed exploitation signals yet
CISA-KEV: Not listedEPSS: —CVSS: —Exploit: NoneExposed: 0

No vendor fix yet — apply a workaround or compensating control (WAF / firewall / segmentation) and watch for a patch.

Woodpecker: Privilege escalation via unrestricted serviceAccountName in the Kubernetes backend

Impact

A privilege escalation vulnerability affects Woodpecker instances using the Kubernetes backend.

The pipeline option backend_options.kubernetes.serviceAccountName was passed directly to the pod spec without any admin gating.

Who is impacted: any operator running the Kubernetes backend. Any user with Push permission on a connected repository can run pipeline pods under an arbitrary ServiceAccount in the pipeline namespace, gaining that account's RBAC permissions. If a privileged ServiceAccount is reachable in that namespace, this can lead to secret exfiltration (database credentials, API keys, TLS certs) and full cluster takeover.

Patches

https://github.com/woodpecker-ci/woodpecker/pull/6792

Workarounds

Operators who cannot upgrade immediately can mitigate by any of:

  • Restrict Push access on repositories connected to the Kubernetes-backed instance to
trusted users only.
  • Harden the pipeline namespace: ensure no privileged ServiceAccount exists or is bound in
the namespace where pipeline pods run; keep the default ServiceAccount minimally privileged.
  • Disable ServiceAccount token automounting for ServiceAccounts that should not be used by
pipelines.
  • Enforce an admission policy (e.g. OPA/Gatekeeper, Kyverno, or a ValidatingAdmissionPolicy)
that rejects pipeline pods setting an unexpected serviceAccountName.
  • Use a dedicated, isolated namespace per org/instance with no sensitive RBAC bindings.

Resources

  • Vulnerable option introduced in commit 609ba481b5e912f59aaae8ca7bc22b44523c5e37
  • Affected versions: v1.0.0 through v3.15.0
  • Source: pipeline/backend/kubernetes/backend_options.go (field ServiceAccountName),
pipeline/backend/kubernetes/pod.go (assigned to pod spec with no gating)

CVSS v3
—
EG Score
0.0(none)
EPSS
—
KEV
Not listed

Published

July 14, 2026

Last Modified

July 14, 2026

Vendor Advisories for CVE-2026-61549(1)

These vendors published their own advisory mentioning this CVE — often with vendor-specific remediation steps + affected product lists not in NVD.

Data Freshness Timeline

(refreshed 1× in last 7d / 1× in last 30d)

Each row is a source pipeline that fetched or updated this CVE on that date, with what changed. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. Most recent first.

  1. 2026-07-14 20:56 UTCEG score recompute

Frequently asked(3)

What is CVE-2026-61549?
CVE-2026-61549 is a high vulnerability published on July 14, 2026. Woodpecker: Privilege escalation via unrestricted serviceAccountName in the Kubernetes backend Impact A privilege escalation vulnerability affects Woodpecker instances using the Kubernetes backend. The pipeline option backend_options.kubernetes.serviceAccountName was passed directly to the pod spec…
When was CVE-2026-61549 disclosed?
CVE-2026-61549 was first published in the National Vulnerability Database on July 14, 2026. EchelonGraph re-ingests CVE updates from NVD on a 2-hour cycle, so this page reflects the latest published state.
How do I remediate CVE-2026-61549?
Patch to the fixed version published by the affected vendor. Where vendor advisories exist for CVE-2026-61549, EchelonGraph cross-links them in the Vendor Advisories panel below — those typically contain the canonical remediation steps, fixed version numbers, and any vendor-specific mitigations.

Dependency Blast Radius

Explore the affected products and dependency analysis for CVE-2026-61549

Explore →

Is Your Infrastructure Affected by CVE-2026-61549?

EchelonGraph automatically scans your cloud infrastructure and maps CVE exposure using blast radius analysis.

Start Free Scan →Browse All CVEs