Metal3 Ironic Standalone Operator unauthenticated metrics exposure

Severity: medium · CVSS 4.3 · Published 2026-05-29

The Ironic Standalone Operator, used to manage bare-metal infrastructure, contains a configuration flaw in its monitoring component. When the Prometheus metrics exporter is enabled, it listens on all network interfaces without authentication, potentially allowing unauthorized users on the same network to view operational data. This could lead to the exposure of sensitive system metrics and infrastructure details.

Technologies: github.com/metal3-io/ironic-standalone-operator (Go). Vendors: Go.

Quick answers

Is This vulnerability exploited in the wild?
No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of This vulnerability being exploited in the wild.
How severe is This vulnerability?
Medium severity, with a CVSS score of 4.3, published 29 May 2026.
Which products and versions are affected?
github.com/metal3-io/ironic-standalone-operator (Go) < 0.9.0; Metal³ Ironic-Standalone-Operator >= 0.7.0, < 0.9.0.
Is there a fix for This vulnerability?
A patch was published on 2026-04-17: Fix merged via Pull Request 635 Junglewise finds every place you run it, drafts the upgrade and applies it once you approve.
How is This vulnerability attacked?
It is attacked from the adjacent network, in a software library.
Am I affected?
Check whether you run github.com/metal3-io/ironic-standalone-operator (Go) or Metal³ Ironic-Standalone-Operator at an affected version. Junglewise does that check for you around the clock: connect your code, cloud and domains, and it matches new vulnerabilities like this one against what you actually run and tells you when one reaches you.

Technical details

The Ironic Standalone Operator (IrSO) Prometheus metrics exporter (introduced in v0.7.0) binds to 0.0.0.0 by default. Because the exporter does not implement an authentication mechanism, any host on an adjacent network can access the metrics endpoint if the feature is enabled. This is classified as CWE-668 (Exposure of Resource to Wrong Sphere). The vulnerability is particularly relevant when the pod runs with hostNetwork: true. Version 0.9.0 addresses this by introducing a configurable bindAddress field that defaults to the loopback interface (127.0.0.1).

Affected products

  • Metal3-io ironic-standalone-operator >= 0.7.0, < 0.9.0

Timeline

  • 2026-04-17: patched: Fix merged via Pull Request 635
  • 2026-05-18: disclosed: Initial advisory publication
  • 2026-05-29: advisory: GitHub Advisory reviewed and updated

References

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