Vulnerability Description
Kyverno is a policy engine designed for cloud native platform engineering teams. Versions prior to 1.16.3 and 1.15.3 have a critical authorization boundary bypass in namespaced Kyverno Policy apiCall. The resolved `urlPath` is executed using the Kyverno admission controller ServiceAccount, with no enforcement that the request is limited to the policy’s namespace. As a result, any authenticated user with permission to create a namespaced Policy can cause Kyverno to perform Kubernetes API requests using Kyverno’s admission controller identity, targeting any API path allowed by that ServiceAccount’s RBAC. This breaks namespace isolation by enabling cross-namespace reads (for example, ConfigMaps and, where permitted, Secrets) and allows cluster-scoped or cross-namespace writes (for example, creating ClusterPolicies) by controlling the urlPath through context variable substitution. Versions 1.16.3 and 1.15.3 contain a patch for the vulnerability.
CVSS Score
CRITICAL
Affected Products
| Vendor | Product | Versions |
|---|---|---|
| Kyverno | Kyverno | < 1.15.3 |
Related Weaknesses (CWE)
References
- https://github.com/kyverno/kyverno/commit/e0ba4de4f1e0ca325066d5095db51aec45b140Patch
- https://github.com/kyverno/kyverno/commit/eba60fa856c781bcb9c3be066061a3df03ae4ePatch
- https://github.com/kyverno/kyverno/security/advisories/GHSA-8p9x-46gm-qfx2ExploitMitigationVendor Advisory
FAQ
What is CVE-2026-22039?
CVE-2026-22039 is a vulnerability with a CVSS score of 9.9 (CRITICAL). Kyverno is a policy engine designed for cloud native platform engineering teams. Versions prior to 1.16.3 and 1.15.3 have a critical authorization boundary bypass in namespaced Kyverno Policy apiCall....
How severe is CVE-2026-22039?
CVE-2026-22039 has been rated CRITICAL with a CVSS base score of 9.9/10. This is considered a critical vulnerability requiring immediate attention.
Is there a patch for CVE-2026-22039?
Check the references section above for vendor advisories and patch information. Affected products include: Kyverno Kyverno.