Policy bypass in Kyverno via PolicyException handling
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Attack requirements
- None
- Impact type
- Security bypass
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- None · High · None
- Fix status
- Fixed
Attack profile from CVSS 4.0 · CNA. Fix status from CNA. Impact type from CWE-863.
Summary
Kyverno before 1.19.2 contains a policy bypass in the admissionpolicygenerator controller. The controller folds PolicyExceptions into generated ValidatingAdmissionPolicies while skipping its feature and namespace gates. A user with namespaced create rights on PolicyExceptions can inject negated matchConditions into the generated policies to admit violating resources, bypassing cluster-wide enforcement. The flaw is classified as CWE-863, Incorrect Authorization.
Written with Claude Haiku 5.5 from the sources below · 2026-11-06
Description from the CNA
Kyverno before 1.19.2 contains a policy bypass vulnerability in the admissionpolicygenerator controller, which folds PolicyExceptions into generated ValidatingAdmissionPolicies while ignoring the --enablePolicyException, --exceptionNamespace, and policy kind gates. Users with namespaced create rights on PolicyExceptions can inject negated matchConditions into the generated policies to admit violating resources, bypassing cluster-wide enforcement.
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 1.19.2, which fixes this flaw.
Written with Claude Haiku 5.5 from the sources below · 2026-11-06
- 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
Vendor assessments
Timeline
- 2026-11-05 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-122307
- 2026-11-05 Alias added: GHSA-h448-wvj6-xqpr
- 2026-11-06 Priority changed: MEDIUM → LOW
- 2026-11-06 Affected versions changed · Red Hat
- 2026-11-06 CVSS score added · Red Hat
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-2026-122307 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-122307 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-h448-wvj6-xqpr · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2026-122307 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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