Cross-namespace privilege escalation via unchecked apiCall path
Published Jan 27, 2026 · Updated Jan 27, 2026
Authorization bypass in Kyverno before 1.15.3 and 1.16.0 through 1.16.2 allows remote authenticated users to cross namespace boundaries. The apiCall Fetch path substitutes variables into URLPath and passes the result to RawAbsPath under admission controller credentials without checking policy namespace scope. Permission to create a namespaced Policy is required; reachable reads and writes are bounded by the controller ServiceAccount's RBAC.
Summary
What happened
Authorization bypass in Kyverno before 1.15.3 and 1.16.0 through 1.16.2 allows remote authenticated users to cross namespace boundaries. The apiCall Fetch path substitutes variables into URLPath and passes the result to RawAbsPath under admission controller credentials without checking policy namespace scope. Permission to create a namespaced Policy is required; reachable reads and writes are bounded by the controller ServiceAccount's RBAC.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-22039
- Published
- Jan 27, 2026
- Updated
- Jan 27, 2026
- Vendor
- Kyverno
- Product
- Kyverno
- Classifications
- CWE-269, CWE-918, T1068
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Jan 27, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Jan 27, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=< 1.15.3
- Affected versionversion=>= 1.16.0, < 1.16.3
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
- GHSA-8p9x-46gm-qfx2 cross-namespace apiCall proof of conceptproof of concept · demonstrated
Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.
Technologies
Your stack
See the directory against your own environment.
Your stack
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