CVE-2021-25746
Ingress-nginx directive injection via annotations
A security issue was discovered in ingress-nginx where a user that can create or update ingress objects can use .metadata.annotations in an Ingress object (in the networking.k8s.io or extensions API group) to obtain the credentials of the ingress-nginx controller. In the default configuration, that credential has access to all secrets in the cluster.
Attack profile
How easy it is to exploit
- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges needed
- Low
- User interaction
- None
What an attacker can affect
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- Low
- Availability
- Low
Exploit likelihood
What each source reports
CVE List Score used
Ingress-nginx directive injection via annotations
A security issue was discovered in ingress-nginx where a user that can create or update ingress objects can use .metadata.annotations in an Ingress object (in the networking.k8s.io or extensions API group) to obtain the credentials of the ingress-nginx controller. In the default configuration, that credential has access to all secrets in the cluster.
- Record
CVE-2021-25746- CVSS 3.1
- 7.6 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:L/A:L - Weakness
- CWE-20
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2021-12630
A security issue was discovered in ingress-nginx where a user that can create or update ingress objects can use .metadata.annotations in an Ingress object (in the networking.k8s.io or extensions API group) to obtain the credentials of the ingress-nginx controller. In the default configuration, that credential has access to all secrets in the cluster.
- Record
EUVD-2021-12630- CVSS 3.1
- 7.6 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:L/A:L - Updated
- 2026-11-03
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-79xv-4hmm-pw72
A security issue was discovered in ingress-nginx where a user that can create or update ingress...
A security issue was discovered in ingress-nginx where a user that can create or update ingress objects can use .metadata.annotations in an Ingress object (in the networking.k8s.io or extensions API group) to obtain the credentials of the ingress-nginx controller. In the default configuration, that credential has access to all secrets in the cluster.
- Record
GHSA-79xv-4hmm-pw72- CVSS 3.1
- 7.1 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:L/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-20
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
NVD
A security issue was discovered in ingress-nginx where a user that can create or update ingress objects can use .metadata.annotations in an Ingress object (in the networking.k8s.io or extensions API group) to obtain the credentials of the ingress-nginx controller. In the default configuration, that credential has access to all secrets in the cluster.
- Record
CVE-2021-25746- CVSS 3.1
- 7.6 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:L/A:L - CVSS 3.1
- 7.1 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:L/A:N - CVSS 2.0
- 5.5 Medium
AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:P/I:P/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-20
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSV
A security issue was discovered in ingress-nginx where a user that can create or update ingress objects can use .metadata.annotations in an Ingress object (in the networking.k8s.io or extensions API group) to obtain the credentials of the ingress-nginx controller. In the default configuration, that credential has access to all secrets in the cluster.
- Record
CVE-2021-25746- CVSS 3.1
- 7.1 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:L/A:N - Updated
- 2026-11-02
Affected products
History
| Recorded | Changed | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| aliases, published | EUVD | |
| first indexed | CVE List, GitHub Advisories, NVD, OSV |
Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.
In short
CVE-2021-25746 is a high vulnerability (CVSS 7.6) in Kubernetes Ingress-nginx, published May 6, 2022. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 1.44%, the 73rd percentile. No source names a fixed version.