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 conn...

📋 Executive Summary

🧬 Weakness Anatomy — CWE-269, the underlying flaw class

This vulnerability is classified as CWE-269: Improper Privilege Management in the primary record. The mechanics below are characteristic of this weakness class (per the MITRE CWE corpus), not a claim about a specific exploit observed against your environment.

⚠️ Business Impact Analysis

• ⚠️ Privilege escalation — local attacker can become SYSTEM/root
• ⚠️ Data exfiltration risk — customer and sensitive data at risk

🔗 Representative Attack Path

A typical attack path for this vulnerability class, mapped to MITRE ATT&CK. This is a representative model to guide detection and defense — not a claim of observed activity against a specific target. Confirm specifics against the primary sources below.

⚠ Deep Dive Analysis

This high-severity vulnerability in go go.woodpecker-ci.org/woodpecker/v3 (CVSS 7.5) represents a significant attack surface. SENTINEL APEX assesses exploitation to be technically feasible with moderate effort. Organizations running go.woodpecker-ci.org/woodpecker/v3 in internet-facing or privileged positions face immediate risk.

SENTINEL APEX URGENCY: ELEVATED. Score: 44/100 LOW. Patch before exploitation activity begins.

🧠 Structured Intelligence Assessment

SENTINEL APEX analytical tradecraft separates verified fact from labeled assessment and states intelligence gaps explicitly. Confidence reflects evidentiary support, not certainty.

✔ Verified Facts

• Affected CVE(s): CVE-2026-61549, CVE-2026-61549.
• Affected technology: go go.woodpecker-ci.org/woodpecker/v3.
• CVSS base score of 7.5 assigned by an authoritative source.
• 1 indicator(s) of compromise extracted from source reporting.
• 2 MITRE ATT&CK technique(s) evidenced in the source material.

🕸️ Correlated Observations

• Vendor go has been targeted in 28 prior CYBERDUDEBIVASH reports (recurring target)
• Related prior intelligence: cve-2026-54628-go-github-com-julien040-anyquery (2 shared entities)

🧩 Analyst Assessments

• MEDIUM CONF Technical severity is assessed as high (CVSS 7.5); realized business impact depends on asset exposure and data classification.

❓ Intelligence Gaps

• In-the-wild exploitation is unconfirmed as of this report.
• Attribution to a specific threat actor is not established by the available evidence.

🔮 Forward Outlook

• MEDIUM CONF Given the repeated targeting pattern, further activity against this vendor/sector is probable.

🧬 Prior Intelligence Context

This report is correlated against CYBERDUDEBIVASH SENTINEL APEX's persistent analyst memory. The following entities have been tracked in prior intelligence:

• Vendor go — previously observed 28 times in CYBERDUDEBIVASH intelligence since 2026-07-06 (recent: cve-2026-53604-go-github-com-forgekeep-nebula-mesh, cve-2026-61699-go-github-com-forgekeep-nebula-mesh)
• ATT&CK technique T1041 — previously observed 8 times in CYBERDUDEBIVASH intelligence since 2026-07-06 (recent: mcp-atlassian-arbitrary-server-side-file-read-via-attachmen, cve-2026-54628-go-github-com-julien040-anyquery)
• ATT&CK technique T1068 — previously observed 8 times in CYBERDUDEBIVASH intelligence since 2026-07-05 (recent: cve-2026-44300-go-github-com-opencost-opencost, cve-2026-54087-composer-easycorp-easyadmin-bundle)
• Product go.woodpecker-ci.org/woodpecker/v3 — previously observed once in CYBERDUDEBIVASH intelligence since 2026-07-14 (recent: cve-2026-50141-go-go-woodpecker-ci-org-woodpecker-v3)

🎯 MITRE ATT&CK Mapping

🔴 CVE Reference

🏷️ Indicators of Compromise — Enriched IOC Feed

Normalized IOCs with confidence scoring. Block immediately across all enforcement points. SOC Pro subscribers receive enriched IOC bundles with full attribution and STIX/TAXII feeds.

🔍 Detection Rules — Sigma (SIEM)

Deploy to Splunk, Elastic, Microsoft Sentinel, or QRadar. SOC Pro subscribers receive pre-compiled SIEM-native query packs updated with each pipeline run.

📡 Detection Rules — YARA (Endpoint)

Deploy to endpoint detection platforms. Enterprise subscribers receive tuned, FP-validated YARA rule packs.

🧠 Multi-Platform Detection Engineering

Evidence-driven detections mapped to MITRE ATT&CK, generated by the SENTINEL APEX Detection Engine — one validated rule per technique across SIEM, EDR, and network platforms. SOC Pro subscribers receive these as deploy-ready rule packs with each pipeline run.

Network Detection — Suricata

🎯 Multi-Audience Intelligence Products

This single analysis is packaged for every stakeholder — from the boardroom to the SOC — plus a machine-readable feed for API and MSSP integration. Enterprise & SOC Pro subscribers receive these as structured deliverables.

🏛 Executive Advisory — CISO / Security Leadership

• Affected CVE(s): CVE-2026-61549, CVE-2026-61549.
• Affected technology: go go.woodpecker-ci.org/woodpecker/v3.
• CVSS base score of 7.5 assigned by an authoritative source.
• 1 indicator(s) of compromise extracted from source reporting.

📋 Board Brief

• A high-severity cyber threat affects go go.woodpecker-ci.org/woodpecker/v3.
• Technical severity is rated 7.5/10.
• Primary exposure is operational disruption, data loss, and potential regulatory liability (e.g. GDPR, NIS2, DORA, SOC 2) where in-scope systems are affected.
• Mitigation depends on vendor guidance and compensating controls.
• Recommended posture: authorize prioritized remediation and confirm detection coverage with the security team.

🛡 SOC Bulletin

Severity HIGH · Detection coverage: 0 technique(s) across behavioral analytics · 1 network rule(s)

• P0: Block all 1 IOC(s) at firewall, proxy, DNS, and EDR simultaneously.
• P1: Load the 1 Suricata network rule(s) at IDS/IPS choke points.
• P1: Sweep 14 days of telemetry for the mapped ATT&CK techniques.
• P2: Update threat-intel platform and downstream detection feeds with confirmed indicators.

🔭 Threat Hunting Guide

• T1041 — Exfiltration Over C2 Channel: Hunt for exfiltration over c2 channel activity (exfiltration); evidence basis: chable in that namespace, this can lead to secret exfiltration (database credentials, API keys, TLS certs) an
• T1068 — Exploitation for Privilege Escalation: Hunt for exploitation for privilege escalation activity (privilege-escalation); evidence basis: Woodpecker: Privilege escalation via unrestricted serviceAccountName in the Kubern

🛡️ SOC Response Playbook

• 1IMMEDIATE (0-1hr): Identify all instances of go.woodpecker-ci.org/woodpecker/v3 in your environment via CMDB/asset inventory
• 2IMMEDIATE: Block all 1 IOCs in this report at firewall, proxy, DNS, and EDR simultaneously
• 3IMMEDIATE (0-1hr): Apply vendor patch — no maintenance window exception for LOW threats
• 4IMMEDIATE (1-2hr): If no patch available: implement WAF rules, ACLs, or network-level compensating controls
• 5SHORT-TERM (2-4hr): Deploy Sigma detection rule to SIEM — validate alert generation in test environment
• 6SHORT-TERM (4-8hr): Review logs for exploitation indicators (anomalous go.woodpecker-ci.org/woodpecker/v3 requests, error spikes)
• 7SHORT-TERM (8-24hr): Hunt for post-exploitation: new admin accounts, scheduled tasks, lateral movement
• 8MONITOR: Subscribe to go security advisories for patch updates
• 9ONGOING: Track SENTINEL APEX intelligence feed for follow-on campaigns targeting go.woodpecker-ci.org/woodpecker/v3

📎 Intelligence References

• github.com/advisories/GHSA-qf34-295c-26v8
• github.com/woodpecker-ci/woodpecker/security/advisories/GHSA-qf34-295c
• github.com/woodpecker-ci/woodpecker/pull/6792
• github.com/advisories/GHSA-qf34-295c-26v8
• 📌 NVD — CVE-2026-61549