On June 1, 2026, Phala identified and patched a vulnerability in a Phala Cloud API endpoint that allowed unauthorized modifications to some CVMs. The vulnerability has been contained.
Our investigation found that the attacker deployed a malicious pre-launch script to affected CVMs. The script may have accessed decrypted environment variables after boot.
What happened
The vulnerability allowed unauthorized changes to some Phala Cloud CVMs. After identifying the issue, we patched the affected API endpoint and contained the attack path.
The malicious pre-launch script observed on affected CVMs may have accessed decrypted environment variables after the CVM booted.
Timeline
- 2026-05-31T22:26:36.808Z: earliest confirmed unauthorized activity.
- 2026-06-01T15:47:49.456Z: vulnerability identified and API patched.
Impact
- Onchain KMS CVMs remain outside the affected scope.
- Only Offchain KMS CVMs may be affected.
- Secrets stored in encrypted environment variables on affected CVMs should be treated as compromised.
- AWS registry credentials, including ECR credentials, should be treated as compromised if they were used by affected CVMs.
Recommended actions
- Treat affected CVMs as compromised and replace them.
- Rotate all secrets stored in encrypted environment variables.
- Rotate AWS registry credentials and other external service credentials used by affected CVMs.
Customer notifications
We have notified the affected users and CVMs directly by email.
Ongoing investigation
We are continuing our investigation and will provide further updates as needed. Customers can contact the Phala Cloud team with questions or schedule a meeting to discuss their specific environment.
