CVE-2026-23634

Cluster-wide privileges via default admin RBAC

Published Jan 16, 2026 · Updated Jan 16, 2026

Least privilege violation in Defense Unicorns Pepr before 1.0.5 grants deployed modules cluster-admin permissions through default RBAC. The clusterRole function defaults rbacMode to admin and emits wildcard API-group and resource rules with broad modification verbs. Deployment without scoped mode is required; code running as the module service account then receives cluster-wide create, delete, read, and write access.

CVSS severity4.3
Medium
EPSS probability0.25%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Least privilege violation in Defense Unicorns Pepr before 1.0.5 grants deployed modules cluster-admin permissions through default RBAC. The clusterRole function defaults rbacMode to admin and emits wildcard API-group and resource rules with broad modification verbs. Deployment without scoped mode is required; code running as the module service account then receives cluster-wide create, delete, read, and write access.

The record

CVE
CVE-2026-23634
Published
Jan 16, 2026
Updated
Jan 16, 2026
Vendor
Defense Unicorns
Product
Pepr
Classifications
CWE-272
Attack vector
Unavailable
Privileges
Unavailable

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Jan 16, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Jan 16, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

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Is a vulnerable build present?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=< 1.0.5

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorUnavailable in this record.
Required privilegesUnavailable in this record.

What is affected?

Defense Unicorns · Peprversion=< 1.0.5

Published CVSS scores

1.7OSVCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:H/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:L/VI:L/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:U
0.0GitHub, Inc.CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:N
4.3NIST NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
VectorUnavailable
PrivilegesUnavailable
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-272Least Privilege Violation

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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