On this page

Atomicorp WAF Research Note: CVE-2026-12564

Automation-controller: automation-controller: kubernetes service account token exfiltration via hashicorp vault credenti

CVE Details

Status: Attack Blocked by Atomicorp

Vulnerability Description

A flaw was found in the AAP Controller’s HashiCorp Vault credential plugin. The kubernetes_auth() function in awx_plugins/credentials/hashivault.py reads the controller pod’s Kubernetes service account token and sends it to an attacker-controlled URL when a HashiCorp Vault Secret Lookup credential with kubernetes_role authentication is tested. An authenticated attacker with credential-creation privileges can exfiltrate the service account token, gaining Kubernetes API access to the control plane namespaces with full pod CRUD and secret read permissions, including database credentials and the Django SECRET_KEY.

  1. Maintain the observed Atomicorp protections. Keep your Atomicorp commercial rules current and confirm that the selected observed rules (337109 , 337110 , 340162 , 340163 , 340165 , 344360 , 347009 , 390722 , 398021 , 398022 ) have not been locally disabled. Atomicorp commercial rules are enabled by default. If you use Atomic WAF, review the applicable policy and rule settings.

  2. Apply the vendor’s remediation. WAF protection is defense in depth and does not replace upgrading or following the affected vendor’s guidance.

    • CNA guidance source: redhat
    • Vendor workaround: The following practices would help for avoiding exposure and mitigate this flaw:
  • Restrict network egress from controller pods using Kubernetes NetworkPolicy to prevent outbound connections to untrusted destinations. Only allow connections to known Vault server endpoints.
  • Review and restrict the RBAC permissions of the automation-controller service account to follow the principle of least privilege. Remove unnecessary secret read access.
  • In AAP Cloud environments, audit credential-creation activity for suspicious HashiCorp Vault credentials with external or unusual URLs.
  • Monitor Kubernetes audit logs for unexpected API calls using the automation-controller service account, particularly secret reads and pod operations from EE pods.
  • Rotate the automation-controller service account token if unauthorized access is suspected.
  • Consider restricting the “create credential” privilege to only trusted administrators until the fix is available.
  1. Validate after changes. Confirm rule updates are current, review WAF events for the affected application, and test application behavior after vendor upgrades, mitigations, or local policy changes.

Research Notes

Atomicorp WAF protections are designed around attack techniques and exploit behaviors, allowing existing protections to apply across multiple vulnerabilities without requiring a unique rule for every CVE.

Public Vulnerability References

Test or Research Source

  • Source: Atomicorp AI Research Framework
  • Tags: cve, derived, ssrf, waf-probe

Research Note Context

This research note documents exploit-technique analysis associated with this vulnerability and references Atomicorp WAF protections observed during engineering review, testing, or validation activities.

Atomicorp security controls are generally designed to identify and mitigate attack techniques and exploit behaviors rather than individual CVE identifiers. As a result, protections developed for one vulnerability may also apply to related attack variants and future vulnerabilities using similar techniques.

Learn More

Atomicorp develops commercially supported security technologies for web applications, servers, endpoints, workloads, and legacy enterprise platforms.

Organizations interested in protecting systems against exploit techniques associated with vulnerabilities such as this one can learn more about:

  • Atomic ModSecurity Rules: commercially maintained WAF rules for ModSecurity deployments, including protections for web attacks, bots, scanners, malware, exploitation attempts, and emerging vulnerability classes.
  • Atomic WAF: an enterprise web application firewall with Atomicorp rules, centralized management, reporting, authentication controls, and operational tooling.
  • Atomic ModSecurity Integrator: a special licensing option for MSPs, MSSPs, OEMs, VARs, reverse proxy providers, and other integrators who want to incorporate Atomicorp ModSecurity rule technology into their own products or services.
  • Atomic OSSEC: an enterprise OSSEC-based intrusion detection, compliance, and security monitoring platform.
  • Atomic Protector: workload protection for Linux, web, cloud, data center, and hybrid environments.

For additional information, product evaluations, or technical discussions, visit https://www.atomicorp.com/ or https://modsecurity.io/ .