Vulnerabilities in pkg:golang/github.com/fluxcd/notification-controller

PACKAGE
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-h9cx-xjg6-5v2w
Advisory Summary

CVE-2026-40109 is a LOW (CVSS 3.1) flux notification-controller gcr receiver missing vulnerability (CWE-287: Improper Authentication) affecting Github.com/fluxcd/notification controller libraries in the Go ecosystem. The issue involves flux notification-controller gcr receiver missing email validation allows unauthorized reconciliation triggering. Remediation is available by upgrading affected packages to version 1.8.3.

2 Known Advisory Record(s)
Package Vulnerability Intelligence

pkg:golang/github.com/fluxcd/notification-controller

2 Known Advisory Record(s)

Vulnerability advisories affecting package pkg:golang/github.com/fluxcd/notification-controller. Select an advisory below to view technical details or fixes.

Advisory ID CVE / NVD Severity Summary
GHSA-h9cx-xjg6-5v2w CVE-2026-40109 LOW Flux notification-controller GCR Receiver missing email validation allows unauthorized reconciliation triggering
GHSA-f4p5-x4vc-mh4v CVE-2022-39272 MODERATE Improper use of metav1.Duration allows for Denial of Service

CVE-2026-40109 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2026-40109
GHSA Identifier GHSA-h9cx-xjg6-5v2w
Severity LOW
CVSS v3.1 Base Score 3.1
CWE Classification CWE-287: Improper Authentication
Affected Product Github.com/fluxcd/notification controller
Package Ecosystem Go
Published Date
Last Updated

Security Impact

CVSS: 3.1

The security impact metrics below are parsed directly from the CVSS v3.1 vector string (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N).

Attack Vector Network (AV:N)
Attack Complexity High (AC:H)
Privileges Required Low (PR:L)
User Interaction None (UI:N)
Scope Unchanged (S:U)
Confidentiality None (C:N)
Integrity Low (I:L)
Availability None (A:N)

How to Fix CVE-2026-40109

To remediate this vulnerability, upgrade all affected Github.com/fluxcd/notification controller dependencies to a patched release. Both direct and transitive dependencies should be checked, as frameworks or security libraries may pull in vulnerable versions transitively.

github.com/fluxcd/notification-controller fixed: 1.8.3
Upgrade github.com/fluxcd/notification-controller to 1.8.3
Verify Direct and Transitive Dependencies

Run the following command in your project directory to verify that all resolved dependencies use the patched release:

inspect dependencies for github.com/fluxcd/notification-controller

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your application is affected by CVE-2026-40109, inspect your project dependencies for Github.com/fluxcd/notification controller:

inspect dependencies for github.com/fluxcd/notification-controller

Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of Github.com/fluxcd/notification controller in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than 1.8.3), your application is affected.

Note: Verify declared build manifests and deployed runtime container environments.

Technical Details

Vulnerability Mechanism & Technical Analysis

This vulnerability is classified under CWE-287: Improper Authentication, where when an actor claims to have a given identity, the product does not prove or insufficiently proves that the claim is correct. In Github.com/fluxcd/notification controller, software state validation or input boundaries are circumvented during processing. Review the official source advisory statement below for specific affected components, classes, and reproduction details.

Source Advisory Statement

### Impact The `gcr` Receiver type in Flux notification-controller does not validate the `email` claim of Google OIDC tokens used for Pub/Sub push authentication. This allows any valid Google-issued token, to authenticate against the Receiver webhook endpoint, triggering unauthorized Flux reconciliations. Exploitation requires the attacker to know the Receiver's webhook URL. The webhook path is generated as `/hook/sha256sum(token+name+namespace)`, where the token is a random string stored in a Kubernetes Secret. There is no API or endpoint that enumerates webhook URLs. An attacker cannot discover the path without either having access to the cluster and permissions to read the Receiver's `.status.webhookPath` in the target namespace, or obtaining the URL through other means (e.g. leaked secrets or access to Pub/Sub config). Upon successful authentication, the controller triggers a reconciliation for all resources listed in the Receiver's `.spec.resources`. However, the practical impact is limited: Flux reconciliation is idempotent, so if the desired state in the configured sources (Git, OCI, Helm) has not changed, the reconciliation results in a no-op with no effect on cluster state. Additionally, Flux controllers deduplicate reconciliation requests, sending many requests in a short period results in only a single reconciliation being processed. ### Patches The fix in notification-controller v1.8.3 refactors the GCR Receiver authentication to allow users to extend the verification to `email` and `audience` claims in the JWT. This enables operators to configure their Receiver's secret with the expected GCP Service Account email and audience, which the controller will validate against the token's claims before accepting the request. Email validation example: ```yaml apiVersion: v1 kind: Secret metadata: name: gcr-webhook-token namespace: apps type: Opaque stringData: token: <random token> email: <service-account>@<project>.iam.gserviceaccount.com audience: https://<hostname>/hook/<sha256(token+name+namespace)> ``` For more information, please see the GCR Receiver documentation: https://fluxcd.io/flux/components/notification/receivers/#gcr ### Credits Thanks to Saroj Khadka for reporting this issue to the Flux Security Team.

CVE-2026-40109 Affected Github.com/fluxcd/notification controller Versions

1 component(s)
Fixed Versions:
1.8.3
Product / Package Ecosystem Affected Versions Fixed Version
github.com/fluxcd/notification-controller
Go
< 1.8.3
1.8.3

References

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2026-40109?
CVE-2026-40109 is a security vulnerability in Github.com/fluxcd/notification controller involving Flux notification-controller GCR Receiver missing email validation allows unauthorized reconciliation triggering under CWE-287: Improper Authentication.
Which Github.com/fluxcd/notification controller versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to 1.8.3 across affected packages: github.com/fluxcd/notification-controller.
What version fixes CVE-2026-40109?
Upgrading to 1.8.3 (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
Is github.com/fluxcd/notification-controller affected?
Yes, github.com/fluxcd/notification-controller is affected in releases prior to 1.8.3. Upgrade your dependency to 1.8.3 or later.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2026-40109?
CVE-2026-40109 has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 3.1 (LOW) with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N.
What CWE is associated with CVE-2026-40109?
CVE-2026-40109 is classified under CWE-287: Improper Authentication (When an actor claims to have a given identity, the product does not prove or insufficiently proves that the claim is correct.).
How can I check Go dependencies for CVE-2026-40109?
Run the dependency tree command: 'inspect dependencies for github.com/fluxcd/notification-controller'. This command lists direct and transitive dependencies in your build configuration so you can verify if a vulnerable version is resolved.
Machine-readable OSV JSON OSV v1.5 Schema
Normalized schema output
{
  "schema_version" : "1.4.0",
  "id" : "GHSA-h9cx-xjg6-5v2w",
  "modified" : "2026-04-10T20:18:16Z",
  "published" : "2026-04-10T20:18:16Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2026-40109" ],
  "summary" : "Flux notification-controller GCR Receiver missing email validation allows unauthorized reconciliation triggering",
  "details" : "### Impact\n\nThe `gcr` Receiver type in Flux notification-controller does not validate the `email` claim of Google OIDC tokens used for Pub/Sub push authentication. This allows any valid Google-issued token, to authenticate against the Receiver webhook endpoint, triggering unauthorized Flux reconciliations.\n\nExploitation requires the attacker to know the Receiver's webhook URL. The webhook path is generated as `/hook/sha256sum(token+name+namespace)`, where the token is a random string stored in a Kubernetes Secret. There is no API or endpoint that enumerates webhook URLs. An attacker cannot discover the path without either having access to the cluster and permissions to read the Receiver's `.status.webhookPath` in the target namespace, or obtaining the URL through other means (e.g. leaked secrets or access to Pub/Sub config).\n\nUpon successful authentication, the controller triggers a reconciliation for all resources listed in the Receiver's `.spec.resources`. However, the practical impact is limited: Flux reconciliation is idempotent, so if the desired state in the configured sources (Git, OCI, Helm) has not changed, the reconciliation results in a no-op with no effect on cluster state. Additionally, Flux controllers deduplicate reconciliation requests, sending many requests in a short period results in only a single reconciliation being processed.\n\n### Patches\n\nThe fix in notification-controller v1.8.3 refactors the GCR Receiver authentication to allow users to extend the verification to `email` and `audience` claims in the JWT. This enables operators to configure their Receiver's secret with the expected GCP Service Account email and audience, which the controller will validate against the token's claims before accepting the request.\n\nEmail validation example:\n\n```yaml\napiVersion: v1\nkind: Secret\nmetadata:\n  name: gcr-webhook-token\n  namespace: apps\ntype: Opaque\nstringData:\n  token: <random token>\n  email: <service-account>@<project>.iam.gserviceaccount.com\n  audience: https://<hostname>/hook/<sha256(token+name+namespace)>\n```\n\nFor more information, please see the GCR Receiver documentation: https://fluxcd.io/flux/components/notification/receivers/#gcr\n\n\n### Credits\n\nThanks to Saroj Khadka for reporting this issue to the Flux Security Team.",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V3",
    "score" : "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "Go",
      "name" : "github.com/fluxcd/notification-controller"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "1.8.3"
      } ]
    } ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/fluxcd/notification-controller/security/advisories/GHSA-h9cx-xjg6-5v2w"
  }, {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-40109"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/fluxcd/notification-controller/pull/1279"
  }, {
    "type" : "PACKAGE",
    "url" : "https://github.com/fluxcd/notification-controller"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/fluxcd/notification-controller/releases/tag/v1.8.3"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-287", "CWE-345" ],
    "severity" : "LOW",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2026-04-10T20:18:16Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : "2026-04-09T21:16:12Z"
  }
}