Executive brief
OpenChoreo is a multi-cluster application orchestration platform that uses a control-plane component called cluster-gateway to manage data-plane operations. In multi-cluster deployments, the cluster-gateway is exposed externally to allow remote agents to connect. However, the management APIs that control sensitive workload operations (including Kubernetes API proxy and pod command execution) were served on the same public endpoint without authentication. An attacker with network access to this endpoint could perform privileged operations and fully compromise workloads on the affected data plane.
Technical details
The vulnerability is a missing authentication and authorization flaw (CWE-306, CWE-862) in the OpenChoreo control-plane cluster-gateway component. The root cause is architectural: caller-facing management APIs that perform critical data-plane operations (Kubernetes API proxying, workload pod command execution) were exposed on the same network listener (public endpoint) used for legitimate data-plane agent connections, without any authentication of the caller. In multi-cluster topologies, this listener is published outside the cluster for remote agents to connect. An unauthenticated attacker able to reach this endpoint can directly invoke privileged operations normally restricted to the OpenChoreo API server and gated by its authorization system. This allows full compromise of workloads: disclosure (data access), tampering (code/configuration modification), and denial of service. The fix (versions 1.0.2, 1.1.2, 1.2.0+) moves management APIs to a separate internal listener not exposed outside the cluster, leaving only the agent-connection endpoint on the external listener. The attack vector is network-adjacent (AV:A), reflecting the requirement to reach the externally published gateway; no authentication or user interaction is required (PR:N/UI:N), and the scope changes beyond the vulnerable component.
Affected products
- OpenChoreo OpenChoreo < 1.0.2, >= 1.1.0 and < 1.1.2
Timeline
- 2026-07-09: disclosed: Vulnerability published to GitHub Advisory Database
- 2026: patched: Patches released in versions 1.0.2, 1.1.2, and 1.2.0
- 2026-09-02: advisory: Security advisory published (GHSA-qh9r-j7rp-4x2m)
- 2026-08-13: other: CVE-2026-73843 published to NVD