Privilege escalation in Kyverno
CVE-2026-122302
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.
Vulnerability class: Privilege Escalation
Published · last modified .
CVSS v3 metric
CVSS v3 base score 9.8 (Critical). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.
EPSS exploit prediction
No EPSS score from FIRST.org yet. New CVEs usually get one within a few days; no score means no signal yet, not low risk. How EPSS works.
Affected products
Weakness classification (CWE)
References
- GitHub Security Advisory (GHSA-q62c-r9v2-cf64) (vendor-advisory)
- VulnCheck Advisory: Kyverno before 1.19.2 Privilege Escalation via Generate Rule Permission Check (third-party-advisory)
Frequently asked questions
- What is CVE-2026-122302?
- CVE-2026-122302 is a critical-severity vulnerability in Kyverno, classified under Improper Privilege Management. CVSS score: 9.8/10. Published 2026-11-05.
- How severe is CVE-2026-122302?
- Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.8 out of 10.