flyteorg/flyte

[V2] Secret value is showing in pod spec ENVVAR directly

Open

#7,824 opened on Aug 11, 2026

View on GitHubContributor guide
 (2 comments) (0 reactions) (1 assignee)Python (378 forks)batch import
flyte2good first issuehelp wanted

Repository metrics

Stars
 (3,705 stars)
PR merge metrics
 (Avg merge 3d 8h) (114 merged PRs in 30d)

Description

Issue

When injecting a secret into task pod like this:

env = flyte.TaskEnvironment(
    name="hello_world",
    resources=flyte.Resources(cpu=1, memory="1Gi"),
    image=image,
    secrets=[
        flyte.Secret(key="my_secret", as_env_var="MY_SECRET_KEY"),
    ]
)

When getting pod spec with kubectl describe command, we will directly see the secret value in ENVVAR, which is not secure:

Suggestion

We use webhook to inject secret into task pod. We should insert EnvVarSource instead of EnvVar value directly

Contributor guide

Research direction
Inspect the referenced code in embedded secret manager.go where EnvVar is constructed for secrets, and change it to use an EnvVarSource (like SecretKeyRef) instead of setting the value directly.
Tech stack
gokubernetes
Domain
backendsecurity
Issue type
Bug
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
2
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
1-3 hours
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
Active
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
Clear
Prerequisites
GitGoKubernetes
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
75