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Fencer Vulns
critical 9.6

CVE-2026-54523 json

Kyverno: NamespacedGeneratingPolicy generator.apply() namespace argument unvalidated -- background controller creates RoleBindings in any namespace including kube-system

published 2026-08-26 2 mo ago modified 2026-09-09 1 mo ago also BIT-kyverno-2026-54523 , EUVD-2026-66561 , GHSA-79gf-7frw-68m9 , GO-2026-6296

cvss
9.6
version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.5%
EPSS 0.5% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 40%
public exploits
0
none known

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.

Patch / fix

  • go github.com/kyverno/kyverno 1.18.2
  • bitnami kyverno 1.18.2
  • kyverno kyverno 1.18.2
  • nirmata kyverno 1.18.2
  • govulncheck-vulndb SLES for SAP applications 16.0, SLES 16.0 0.0.20260827T195228-160000.1.1

suse advisories SUSE-SU-2026:23625-1

  • govulncheck-vulndb openSUSE Leap 16.0 0.0.20260827T195228-160000.1.1

opensuse advisories openSUSE-SU-2026:21761-1

Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2026-54523 updated cvss 8.7

github.com/kyverno/kyverno: kyverno: Kyverno: NamespacedGeneratingPolicy generator.apply() namespace argument unvalidated -- background controller creates RoleBindings in any namespace including kube-

  • Red Hat All currently supported Red Hat products
    not affected: vulnerable code not present

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

CISA SSVC

Exploitation
Proof of concept is public
Automatable
no
Technical impact
total
Assessed
2 mo ago

Exploit prediction

0.47% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 40% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

Exploits and checks

  • github.com https://github.com/kyverno/kyverno/security/advisories/GHSA-79gf-7frw-68m9 referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
CNA 3.1 9.6 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N
GitHub 3.1 9.6 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N
OSV 3.1 9.6 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N

Affected packages

ecosystem package affected fixed in
go github.com/kyverno/kyverno
>=1.18.0, <1.18.2
1.18.2
bitnami kyverno
>=1.18.0, <1.18.2
1.18.2

Affected products

  • kyverno kyverno

Classification

Weakness

References

Sources

Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.

CPEs and fixed versions use Anchore's correction of NVD's data: Added CPE configurations because not yet analyzed by NVD.