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Kyverno Privilege Escalation via Generate Rule Permission Check

Priority MEDIUM 40CWE-269Published · Updated

Key facts

Attack vector
Network
Privileges required
None
User interaction
None
Attack complexity
Low
Attack requirements
None
Impact type
Privilege escalation
Confidentiality · integrity · availability
High · High · High
Fix status
Fixed

Attack profile from CVSS 4.0 · CNA. Fix status from CNA. Impact type from CWE-269.

Summary

Kyverno versions before 1.19.2 contain a privilege escalation flaw (CWE-269) in the generate rule permission check. Admission checks verify the background controller's permissions instead of the policy author's, so namespace admins can create resources beyond their RBAC. A namespaced Policy with generate rules that target other namespaces or cluster-scoped kinds makes the background controller create or clone resources cluster-wide. The CVSS 4.0 base score is 9.3 (CRITICAL), and CISA has not added it to KEV.

Written with Claude Haiku 5.5 from the sources below · 2026-11-05

Description from the CNA

Kyverno before 1.19.2 contains a privilege escalation vulnerability that allows namespace admins to create resources beyond their RBAC because generate-rule admission checks verify the controller's permissions, not the author's. Attackers can create a namespaced Policy with generate rules targeting other namespaces or cluster-scoped kinds, making the background controller create or clone resources cluster-wide.

Why it matters now

EPSS 0.00284 21st percentileScored 2026-11-07
Fix Fixed kyverno (kyverno): 1.19.2

SSVC decision points

Not available: CISA has not published SSVC decision points for this record.

Affected products

VendorProductAffected versionsFixed inStatusSource
kyvernokyvernobefore 1.19.21.19.2Patch availableCNA
  • kyverno Vendorkyverno Affected before 1.19.2 Fixed in 1.19.2 Patch available CNA

Remediation

Upgrade Kyverno to version 1.19.2 or later.

Written with Claude Haiku 5.5 from the sources below · 2026-11-05

  • Fix · CNA kyverno (kyverno) Fixed in 1.19.2

Fixed in the same release

Records fixed by the same vendor advisory or release, as the CNA lists them.

  • Release ·

    kyverno 1.19.2

    21 records Highest priority Priority MEDIUM 6 MEDIUM, 15 LOW

    Other records, highest priority first

    • TI-2026-85289 Kyverno path traversal in namespaced CEL policies reaches cluster objectsPriority MEDIUM 41
    • TI-2026-85282 Authorization bypass in Kyverno lets namespace admins read SecretsPriority MEDIUM 41
    • TI-2026-85291 Privilege escalation in Kyverno lets tenants mutate other namespacesPriority MEDIUM 40

Timeline

  1. 2026-11-05 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-122302
  2. 2026-11-05 Alias added: GHSA-p456-76q8-jj5q

References

  • TI-2024-32618 Kyverno's PolicyException objects can be created in any namespace by default CVSS 4.0HIGH 8.7
  • TI-2026-57895 Kyverno before v1.13.0 Policy Bypass via Multiple Exceptions CVSS 4.0CRITICAL 9.4
  • TI-2026-39369 Missing authorization in kyverno CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.6
  • TI-2026-17733 Kyverno Cross-Namespace Privilege Escalation via Policy apiCall CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 10.0
  • TI-2026-29924 Kyverno: ServiceAccount token leaked to external servers via apiCall service URL CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.1
  • TI-2026-29524 kyverno apicall servicecall implicit bearer token injection leaks kyverno serviceaccount token CVSS 3.1HIGH 8.1
See all 52 →

Sources