What is CVE-2025-29781?

CVE-2025-29781 is a medium-severity security vulnerability in github.com/metal3-io/baremetal-operator/apis (go), affecting versions = 0.9.0. It is fixed in 0.9.1, 0.8.1.

How severe is CVE-2025-29781?

CVE-2025-29781 has a CVSS score of 6.5 (Medium). This score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether it represents real risk in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable.

Which versions of github.com/metal3-io/baremetal-operator/apis are affected by CVE-2025-29781?

github.com/metal3-io/baremetal-operator/apis (go) versions = 0.9.0 is affected.

Is there a fix for CVE-2025-29781?

Yes. CVE-2025-29781 is fixed in 0.9.1, 0.8.1. Upgrade to this version or later.

Is CVE-2025-29781 exploitable, and should I be worried?

Whether CVE-2025-29781 is exploitable in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable. A CVSS score is a worst-case rating; it does not account for your specific deployment, configuration, or usage patterns. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to show which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so you can focus on the ones that represent real risk.

What actually determines whether CVE-2025-29781 is exploitable, and how bad it is?

Exploitability and impact are not fixed properties of a CVE. They depend on runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A high CVSS score on a dependency that never runs is not the same as real risk. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter.

How do I fix CVE-2025-29781?

Upgrade: github.com/metal3-io/baremetal-operator/apis to 0.9.1 or later, github.com/metal3-io/baremetal-operator/apis to 0.8.1 or later.

CVE-2025-29781

Summary

Bare Metal Operator (BMO) can expose any secret from other namespaces via BMCEventSubscription CRD

Workarounds

Operator can configure BMO RBAC to be namespace scoped, instead of cluster scoped, to prevent BMO from accessing Secrets from other namespaces, and/or use WATCH_NAMESPACE configuration option to limit BMO to single namespace.

References

Credits

Metal3 Security Team thanks WHALEEYE and debuggerchen of Lab for Internet and Security Technology for responsible vulnerability disclosure.

Impact

The Bare Metal Operator (BMO) implements a Kubernetes API for managing bare metal hosts in Metal3.

Baremetal Operator enables users to load Secret from arbitrary namespaces upon deployment of the namespace scoped Custom Resource BMCEventSubscription (BMCES). An adversary Kubernetes account with only namespace level roles (e.g. a tenant controlling a namespace) may create a BMCES in their authorized namespace and then load Secrets from their unauthorized namespaces to their authorized namespace via the Baremetal Operator controller's cluster scoped privileges, causing Secret leakage.

CVE-2025-29781 has a CVSS score of 6.5 (Medium). The vector is requires local access, low privileges required, and no user interaction. A CVSS score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether this affects your application depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable in your environment. A fixed version is available (0.9.1, 0.8.1); upgrading removes the vulnerable code path.

Affected versions

github.com/metal3-io/baremetal-operator/apis (= 0.9.0) github.com/metal3-io/baremetal-operator/apis (<= 0.8.0)

Security releases

github.com/metal3-io/baremetal-operator/apis → 0.9.1 (go) github.com/metal3-io/baremetal-operator/apis → 0.8.1 (go)

Kodem intelligence

Severity tells you how bad this could be in the worst case. It does not tell you whether you are exposed. Exploitability and impact are functions of runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A vulnerable package can sit in your dependency tree and never run.

Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter. Kodem's runtime-powered SCA identifies whether this CVE is reachable in your applications.

Already deployed Kodem?

See it in your environment New to Kodem? Get a demo →

Remediation advice

The patch makes BMO refuse to read Secrets from other namespace than where the corresponding Bare Metal Host (BMH) resource is. The patch does not change the BMCEventSubscription API in BMO, but stricter validation will deny the request at admission time. It will also prevent the controller reading such Secrets, in case the BMCES resource has already been deployed.

The issue exists for all versions of BMO, and is patched in BMO releases v0.9.1 and v0.8.1. Prior upgrading to patched BMO version, duplicate any existing Secret pointed to by BMCEventSubscription's httpHeadersRef to the same namespace where the corresponding BMH exists. After upgrade, remove the old Secrets.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2025-29781? CVE-2025-29781 is a medium-severity security vulnerability in github.com/metal3-io/baremetal-operator/apis (go), affecting versions = 0.9.0. It is fixed in 0.9.1, 0.8.1.
How severe is CVE-2025-29781? CVE-2025-29781 has a CVSS score of 6.5 (Medium). This score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether it represents real risk in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable.
Which versions of github.com/metal3-io/baremetal-operator/apis are affected by CVE-2025-29781? github.com/metal3-io/baremetal-operator/apis (go) versions = 0.9.0 is affected.
Is there a fix for CVE-2025-29781? Yes. CVE-2025-29781 is fixed in 0.9.1, 0.8.1. Upgrade to this version or later.
Is CVE-2025-29781 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2025-29781 is exploitable in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable. A CVSS score is a worst-case rating; it does not account for your specific deployment, configuration, or usage patterns. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to show which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so you can focus on the ones that represent real risk. Get a demo
What actually determines whether CVE-2025-29781 is exploitable, and how bad it is? Exploitability and impact are not fixed properties of a CVE. They depend on runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A high CVSS score on a dependency that never runs is not the same as real risk. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter.
How do I fix CVE-2025-29781?
- Upgrade github.com/metal3-io/baremetal-operator/apis to 0.9.1 or later
- Upgrade github.com/metal3-io/baremetal-operator/apis to 0.8.1 or later