# CVE-2026-94290: Privilege escalation to cluster-admin on the Rancher local cluster through Fleet's agent management controller

Status: published. Published: 2026-11-02. Updated: 2026-11-02.

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.

## Remediation

- fix: github.com/rancher/fleet (go): GitHub reports patched versions 0.16.3. Check the advisory for the affected release branch. (source: GitHub GHSA-qfmw-gw96-ffcr) — https://github.com/rancher/fleet/security/advisories/GHSA-qfmw-gw96-ffcr
- fix: github.com/rancher/fleet (go): GitHub reports patched versions 0.15.8. Check the advisory for the affected release branch. (source: GitHub GHSA-qfmw-gw96-ffcr) — https://github.com/rancher/fleet/security/advisories/GHSA-qfmw-gw96-ffcr
- fix: github.com/rancher/fleet (go): GitHub reports patched versions 0.14.12. Check the advisory for the affected release branch. (source: GitHub GHSA-qfmw-gw96-ffcr) — https://github.com/rancher/fleet/security/advisories/GHSA-qfmw-gw96-ffcr
- fix: github.com/rancher/fleet (go): GitHub reports patched versions 0.13.17. Check the advisory for the affected release branch. (source: GitHub GHSA-qfmw-gw96-ffcr) — https://github.com/rancher/fleet/security/advisories/GHSA-qfmw-gw96-ffcr

## Affected products and versions

- SUSE / Rancher (Fleet): ≥ 0.16.0; < 0.16.3 (affected, semver); ≥ 0.15.0; < 0.15.8 (affected, semver); ≥ 0.14.0; < 0.14.12 (affected, semver); ≥ 0.13.0; < 0.13.17 (affected, semver). Source: CNA: suse
-  / github.com/rancher/fleet (github.com/rancher/fleet): >=0.16.0, <0.16.3 (affected, GitHub advisory range). Source: GitHub GHSA-qfmw-gw96-ffcr
-  / github.com/rancher/fleet (github.com/rancher/fleet): >=0.15.0, <0.15.8 (affected, GitHub advisory range). Source: GitHub GHSA-qfmw-gw96-ffcr
-  / github.com/rancher/fleet (github.com/rancher/fleet): >=0.14.0, <0.14.12 (affected, GitHub advisory range). Source: GitHub GHSA-qfmw-gw96-ffcr
-  / github.com/rancher/fleet (github.com/rancher/fleet): >=v0.13.0, <0.13.17 (affected, GitHub advisory range). Source: GitHub GHSA-qfmw-gw96-ffcr

## Severity and prioritization

- CVSS 3.1: 9.1 (critical); CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H; source: CNA: suse

- CVSS 3.1: 9.1 (critical); CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H; source: NVD: meissner@suse.de

- CISA KEV: No listing in collected sources

- EPSS: Not available

- SSVC: exploitation none; automatable no; technical impact total; source ADP: CISA-ADP

- Weaknesses: CWE-250

## Exploit evidence

No exploit evidence in collected sources. This is not proof of no exploitation.

## References

- https://github.com/rancher/fleet/security/advisories/GHSA-qfmw-gw96-ffcr (CNA: suse; vendor-advisory)

- https://github.com/rancher/fleet/security/advisories/GHSA-qfmw-gw96-ffcr (meissner@suse.de)

- https://github.com/rancher/fleet/security/advisories/GHSA-qfmw-gw96-ffcr (GitHub Security Advisories; advisory)

## Provenance

- CNA: suse: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-94290; retrieved 2026-11-02; source updated 2026-11-02

- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-94290; retrieved 2026-11-02; source updated 2026-11-02

- GitHub Security Advisories: https://github.com/rancher/fleet/security/advisories/GHSA-qfmw-gw96-ffcr; retrieved 2026-11-02; source updated 2026-10-29

Revision: c78e7d15eee56b334710cb6e773a3b38dc7cc4a37f3c53b11e9e3104cd3c0722

Canonical: https://y2.dev/cve/CVE-2026-94290

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