{"id":"BIT-kyverno-2026-54523","summary":"Kyverno: NamespacedGeneratingPolicy generator.apply() namespace argument unvalidated -- background controller creates RoleBindings in any namespace including kube-system","details":"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.","aliases":["CVE-2026-54523","GHSA-79gf-7frw-68m9","GO-2026-6296"],"modified":"2026-09-02T16:30:19.313541497Z","published":"2026-09-02T14:44:00.671Z","database_specific":{"cpes":["cpe:2.3:a:kyverno:kyverno:*:*:*:*:*:go:*:*"],"severity":"Critical"},"references":[{"type":"WEB","url":"https://github.com/kyverno/kyverno/commit/0919553c0ea1904f8d891280c92018da97946a06"},{"type":"WEB","url":"https://github.com/kyverno/kyverno/commit/5164bcdeda5b57678bc2d7a03ecc2cbb02982dae"},{"type":"WEB","url":"https://github.com/kyverno/kyverno/pull/16238"},{"type":"WEB","url":"https://github.com/kyverno/kyverno/releases/tag/v1.18.2"},{"type":"WEB","url":"https://github.com/kyverno/kyverno/security/advisories/GHSA-79gf-7frw-68m9"},{"type":"WEB","url":"https://github.com/kyverno/sdk/commit/6573937441443e1ba5af9fbb28d5c0f20297f9df"},{"type":"WEB","url":"https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-54523"}],"affected":[{"package":{"name":"kyverno","ecosystem":"Bitnami","purl":"pkg:bitnami/kyverno"},"ranges":[{"type":"SEMVER","events":[{"introduced":"1.18.0"},{"fixed":"1.18.2"}]}],"database_specific":{"source":"https://github.com/bitnami/vulndb/tree/main/data/kyverno/BIT-kyverno-2026-54523.json"},"severity":[{"type":"CVSS_V3","score":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N"}]}],"schema_version":"1.9.0"}