CVE-2026-86332: Red Hat OpenShift AI Secret Disclosure

CVE-2026-86332 Overview

CVE-2026-86332 is a missing authorization flaw in the odh-dashboard component of Red Hat OpenShift AI. The backend-for-frontend route GET /api/nim-serving/:nimResource reads Kubernetes Secrets using the dashboard service account and returns the full Secret object, including the .data field, without checking whether the caller is authorized. Any authenticated dashboard user can retrieve the cluster NVIDIA NGC API key Secret (apiKeySecret) and the NVIDIA Inference Microservices (NIM) image pull secret (nimPullSecret). While create and delete operations on the same NIM credential are admin-gated, the read path is not, resulting in credential exposure across tenants of the dashboard.

Critical Impact
Authenticated dashboard users can read privileged NIM credentials and image pull secrets that grant access to NVIDIA NGC resources and private container registries.

Affected Products

Red Hat OpenShift AI (odh-dashboard component)
Open Data Hub dashboard deployments exposing the NIM serving route
Kubernetes clusters hosting the affected odh-dashboard service account

Discovery Timeline

2026-09-07 - CVE-2026-86332 published to NVD
2026-09-08 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2026-86332

Vulnerability Analysis

The odh-dashboard exposes a backend-for-frontend (BFF) endpoint at GET /api/nim-serving/:nimResource that proxies requests to the Kubernetes API. The route uses the dashboard service account's elevated privileges to fetch Secret objects and returns the entire object, including the base64-encoded .data field, in the HTTP response. The handler does not verify whether the calling user should be permitted to read the underlying Secret.

Because the same Secrets hold the cluster-wide NVIDIA NGC API key and the NIM image pull credential, any user with a valid dashboard session can enumerate the resource name and retrieve the credentials. This weakness combines missing authorization [CWE-862] with insufficiently protected credentials [CWE-522].

The issue is distinct from CVE-2026-5483, which involves a service-account token leak in the Kubernetes client response wrapper on the same route, and from CVE-2026-16456, a cross-namespace confused deputy in odh-model-controller.

Root Cause

The root cause is a missing authorization check in the BFF handler. The dashboard service account has cluster-level read access to the target Secrets, and the handler trusts any authenticated caller. There is no SubjectAccessReview or per-user role check before the Secret is serialized to the response.

Attack Vector

An attacker authenticates to the dashboard as a low-privilege user, then issues an authenticated HTTP request to /api/nim-serving/:nimResource with a known or enumerated NIM resource name. The response contains the full Secret payload, from which the attacker decodes the NVIDIA NGC API key and the image pull secret used to access private registries.

Exploitation requires network access to the dashboard and valid dashboard credentials. No user interaction or elevated privileges are needed on the target account.

Detection Methods for CVE-2026-86332

Indicators of Compromise

Unexpected GET requests to /api/nim-serving/ paths from non-administrative user sessions
Repeated dashboard requests that enumerate NIM resource names in a short window
Kubernetes audit log entries showing the odh-dashboard service account reading apiKeySecret or nimPullSecret outside normal admin workflows

Detection Strategies

Review OpenShift and dashboard access logs for requests to /api/nim-serving/:nimResource correlated with non-admin session identifiers.
Enable and inspect Kubernetes audit logging for get operations on Secrets performed by the odh-dashboard service account.
Alert on any dashboard response containing base64-encoded Secret .data fields returned to non-admin sessions.

Monitoring Recommendations

Ingest OpenShift API server audit logs and odh-dashboard HTTP access logs into a centralized analytics platform for correlation.
Establish a baseline of expected callers for the NIM serving route and alert on deviations.
Rotate and monitor NVIDIA NGC API keys and image pull secrets for anomalous use against external registries.

How to Mitigate CVE-2026-86332

Immediate Actions Required

Apply the Red Hat OpenShift AI update that addresses CVE-2026-86332 as soon as it is available for your channel.
Rotate the NVIDIA NGC API key and the NIM image pull secret if the affected route was reachable by non-admin users.
Restrict dashboard access to trusted users while the patch is being staged.

Patch Information

Refer to the Red Hat CVE-2026-86332 Advisory and Red Hat Bugzilla Entry #2529287 for fixed component versions and errata mapping. The fix introduces an authorization check on the GET /api/nim-serving/:nimResource handler so that only authorized users can read the referenced Secret.

Workarounds

Block or restrict network access to the /api/nim-serving/ route at an ingress or service mesh layer until patched.
Reduce the dashboard service account's Secret read scope to only the resources it strictly requires.
Move NIM credentials to a namespace not readable by the odh-dashboard service account where feasible.

bash

# Example: temporarily deny non-admin access to the NIM serving route at the ingress
# Adjust selectors and paths to match your OpenShift AI deployment
oc annotate route odh-dashboard -n redhat-ods-applications \
  haproxy.router.openshift.io/deny_path="^/api/nim-serving/.*$" --overwrite