CVE-2026-42541 json
Kubewarden: RBAC Reconnaissance via unchecked can_i host capability call
published 2026-05-05 6 mo ago modified 2026-10-26 13 d ago also GHSA-wqcw-g35j-j578 , GO-2026-5716 , EUVD-2026-29707
- cvss
- 4.3
- version 3.1, CNA
- cisa kev
- Not listed
- not in CISA's catalog
- epss
- 0.2%
- EPSS 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 6%
- public exploits
- 0
- none known
Summary
Kubewarden is a policy engine for Kubernetes. Prior to , An attacker with privileged AdmissionPolicy or AdmissionPolicyGroup create permissions (which isn't the default) can craft a policy that makes use of the can_i host callback. The callback issues a SubjectAccessReview (SAR) requests to enumerate RBAC permissions of any user or service account across the cluster. can_i does not perform that check to enforce the context-aware allow-list and forwards the request directly to the callback handler, which executes a real SubjectAccessReview using policy-server privileges. This creates a policy-level authorization gap: can_i is effectively usable even when the policy has no context-aware resource grant. This is an information disclosure / reconnaissance issue, and not direct workload data exfiltration. The attacker learns permission information, such as whether specific service accounts can "get secrets", "create pods", or "bind clusterroles" in chosen namespaces. This vulnerability is fixed in .
Patch / fix
- go github.com/kubewarden/kubewarden-controller 1.35.0
- govulncheck-vulndb openSUSE Leap 16.0 0.0.20260723T184607-160000.1.1
opensuse advisories openSUSE-SU-2026:21483-1
- github.com/kubewarden/docs#737 pull request
- github.com/kubewarden/kubewarden-controller#1693 pull request
CISA SSVC
- Exploitation
- none
- Automatable
- no
- Technical impact
- partial
- Assessed
- 5 mo ago
Exploit prediction
0.17% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 6% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).
CVSS scores
| assigned by | version | score | vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| CNA | 3.1 | 4.3 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N |
| GitHub | 3.1 | 4.3 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N |
Affected packages
| ecosystem | package | affected | fixed in |
|---|---|---|---|
| go | github.com/kubewarden/kubewarden-controller | <1.35.0 |
1.35.0 |
Affected products
- kubewarden kubewarden-controller
Classification
- Weakness
-
- CWE-862 Missing Authorization
References
-
github.com
/kubewarden/docs/pull/737
web
-
github.com
/kubewarden/kubewarden-controller/pull/1693
web, patch
-
github.com
/kubewarden/adm-controller/security/advisories/GHSA-wqcw-g35j-j578
web, advisory
-
github.com
/kubewarden/kubewarden-controller/security/advisories/GHSA-wqcw-g35j-j578
web, advisory
-
nvd.nist.gov
/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-42541
advisory
-
docs.kubewarden.io
/howtos/policy-servers/namespaced-policies-capabilities
web
-
github.com
/kubewarden/kubewarden-controller
package
Sources
- CVE List CVE-2026-42541
- GitHub Advisory GHSA-wqcw-g35j-j578
- NVD CVE-2026-42541
- OSV GO-2026-5716
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