Kyverno Privilege Escalation via Generate Rule Permission Check
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
SSVC decision points
Not available: CISA has not published SSVC decision points for this record.
Affected products
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
- 2026-11-05 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-122302
- 2026-11-05 Alias added: GHSA-p456-76q8-jj5q
References
More kyverno vulnerabilities
- 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
Sources
- CVE-2026-122302 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-122302 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-p456-76q8-jj5q · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
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