Is CVE-2024-45041 actively exploited?

No active exploitation of CVE-2024-45041 has been confirmed so far. Continue monitoring, as exploit status can change.

Can CVE-2024-45041 be exploited remotely?

Yes. CVE-2024-45041 is exploitable remotely over the network (CVSS attack vector: Network).

What is the CVSS score of CVE-2024-45041?

CVE-2024-45041 has a CVSS score of 8.8 (HIGH).

HOME VULNERABILITIESCVE-2024-45041

HIGH

CVE-2024-45041

CWE-269Published: September 9, 2024· Updated: Jun 17, 2026

8.8

CVSS v3.1

Official Description

External Secrets Operator is a Kubernetes operator that integrates external secret management systems. The external-secrets has a deployment called default-external-secrets-cert-controller, which is bound with a same-name ClusterRole. This ClusterRole has "get/list" verbs of secrets resources. It also has path/update verb of validatingwebhookconfigurations resources. This can be used to abuse the SA token of the deployment to retrieve or get ALL secrets in the whole cluster, capture and log all data from requests attempting to update Secrets, or make a webhook deny all Pod create and update requests. This vulnerability is fixed in 0.10.2.

NVD Source

Technical Analysis

CVE-2024-45041 can be exploited remotely over the network without requiring physical or adjacent access, significantly expanding the attack surface for threat actors.

Exploitation requires low privileges, which limits the exposure to scenarios where an attacker has already gained initial access.

A successful exploit results in complete confidentiality breach (data exposure), full integrity compromise (data manipulation), availability disruption (denial of service), with a CVSS base score of 8.8.