Kong Mesh: default control plane config leaks the admin token cross-origin via a CORS wildcard and localhost admin
Priority LOW 23CWE-346Published · Updated
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- Active
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Attack requirements
- None
- Impact type
- Security bypass
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- Low · Low · None
- Fix status
- Fixed
Attack profile from CVSS 4.0 · CNA. Fix status from CNA. Impact type from CWE-346.
Summary
The default kuma-cp configuration in Kong Mesh reveals the admin bootstrap token and signing keys to any webpage the operator visits while the control plane is reachable from their browser. Due to a CORS misconfiguration a cross-origin fetch() from a malicious page returns the admin JWT and signing material.
Why it matters now
Exploitation None reported CISA SSVC · not in CISA KEV
EPSS 0.00298 22nd percentileScored 2026-11-07
Fix Fixed Kong Mesh (Kong Inc.): 2.7.25, 2.9.15, 2.11.13 +2
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- None
- Automatable
- No
- Technical impact
- Partial
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kong Inc. | Kong Mesh | before 2.7.25; 2.8.0 to before 2.9.15; 2.10.0 to before 2.11.13; 2.12.0 to before 2.12.10; 2.13.0 to before 2.13.5 | 2.7.25, 2.9.15, 2.11.13, 2.12.10, 2.13.5 | Patch available | CNA |
- Kong Mesh VendorKong Inc. Affected before 2.7.25; 2.8.0 to before 2.9.15; 2.10.0 to before 2.11.13; 2.12.0 to before 2.12.10; 2.13.0 to before 2.13.5 Fixed in 2.7.25, 2.9.15, 2.11.13, 2.12.10, 2.13.5 Patch available CNA
Remediation
- Fix · CNA Kong Mesh (Kong Inc.) Fixed in 2.7.25, 2.9.15, 2.11.13, 2.12.10, 2.13.5
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-18676
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-x23j-4pcq-m26j
References
More Kong Inc. vulnerabilities
- TI-2020-17871 The official kong docker images before 1.0.2-alpine (Alpine specific) contain a blank… CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
- TI-2025-00925 Arbitrary Code Execution in Kong Insomnia Desktop Application CVSS 4.0CRITICAL 9.3
- TI-2026-12562 Kong API Gateway Enterprise: SAML Authentication bypass CVSS 4.0HIGH 7.7
- TI-2026-12561 Kong API Gateway Enterprise: JWT Algorithm-Confusion CVSS 4.0HIGH 7.7
- TI-2020-18854 Kong lua-multipart multipart.lua is_header redos CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
- TI-2026-70893 SQL injection in Kong Gateway clustering communication CVSS 4.0HIGH 7.5
Sources
- CVE-2026-18676 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-18676 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-x23j-4pcq-m26j · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
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