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CVE-2026-54523: kyverno

Severity

9.6 (CRITICAL)

Vendor

KYVERNO

Affected versions

>= 1.18.0, < 1.18.2

Fixed version

1.18.2.

Patch status

Patched

Published

2026-08-26T15:16:48.910

Modified

2026-08-26T16:16:27.277

Why it matters

This matters because the affected product may allow code execution. Prioritize systems that are internet-facing or have privileged access to other infrastructure.

Recommended admin actions

• Prioritize validation immediately due to critical CVSS severity.
• Treat internet-facing systems as higher priority.
• Review logs for suspicious activity related to the affected application or component.

Technical summary

Kyverno is a policy engine designed for cloud native platform engineering teams. From 1.18.0 until 1.18.2, the NamespacedMutatingPolicy CEL compiler exposes the generator library to matchConditions, allowing a namespace-scoped policy to invoke generator.apply(namespace, resources) with an arbitrary target namespace. The validation in pkg/cel/policies/mpol/validate.go checks that the policy compiles but does not enforce namespace scope, and GenerateResources in pkg/cel/libs/context.go does not reject the cross-namespace target. A user who can create NamespacedMutatingPolicy objects in one namespace can cause the admission controller, operating with cluster-wide privileges, to create ConfigMaps, NetworkPolicies, Secrets, RoleBindings, and other resources in another namespace, enabling unauthorized modification and potential privilege escalation. This issue is fixed in version 1.18.2.

View the official NVD record for CVE-2026-54523

CVE data is sourced from NVD/CNA records and optional enrichment. Validate against the vendor advisory before taking production action.