Description
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.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|---|
| kyverno | kyverno | >= 1.18.0, < 1.18.2 | — |
Fixed in Linux distributions
Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.
SUSE
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| SLES for SAP 16.0 | govulncheck-vulndb | 0.0.20260827T195228-160000.1.1 | SUSE-SU-2026:23625-1 |
| SLES 16.0 | govulncheck-vulndb | 0.0.20260827T195228-160000.1.1 | SUSE-SU-2026:23625-1 |
openSUSE
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| openSUSE Leap 16.0 | govulncheck-vulndb | 0.0.20260827T195228-160000.1.1 | openSUSE-SU-2026:21761-1 |
Wolfi
| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wolfi rolling | kyverno-init-container-1.18 | 1.18.2-r15 | — |
Public exploits
Exploit or proof-of-concept code for this vulnerability is publicly available, which lowers the bar for attackers. Treat it as a reason to patch sooner.
GitHub 1 repository
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TeamN4C/SG-2026-0037 ★ 1 · Oct 31, 2026
CVE-2026-54523 Kyverno cross-namespace resource generation PoC and exploit
Sources: PoC-in-GitHub, Metasploit Framework, Exploit-DB — updated daily. Only links are listed; no exploit code is hosted here.
Affected packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Affected | Fixed | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Go | github.com/kyverno/kyverno | >= 1.18.0, < 1.18.2 | 1.18.2 | GHSA-79gf-7frw-68m9 |
Advisories 3
- SUSE-SU-2026:23625-1 Security update for govulncheck-vulndb SUSE / openSUSE Security Updates · Sep 29, 2026
- openSUSE-SU-2026:21761-1 Security update for govulncheck-vulndb SUSE / openSUSE Security Updates · Sep 9, 2026
- WID-SEC-2026-2280 Kyverno: Schwachstelle ermöglicht Privilegieneskalation BSI CERT-Bund (WID) · Aug 26, 2026
References
- https://github.com/kyverno/kyverno/security/advisories/GHSA-79gf-7frw-68m9
- https://github.com/kyverno/kyverno/pull/16238
- https://github.com/kyverno/kyverno/commit/0919553c0ea1904f8d891280c92018da97946a06
- https://github.com/kyverno/kyverno/commit/5164bcdeda5b57678bc2d7a03ecc2cbb02982dae
- https://github.com/kyverno/sdk/commit/6573937441443e1ba5af9fbb28d5c0f20297f9df
- https://github.com/kyverno/kyverno/releases/tag/v1.18.2