How broadly exploitable is this vulnerability?

Exploitability depends on who can create or modify namespaced Kyverno Policies and what RBAC is assigned to the Kyverno admission controller ServiceAccount. In clusters where many users or automation have Policy creation rights and the Kyverno ServiceAccount has wide permissions, the vulnerability can be broadly exploitable.

Does an attacker need cluster-admin privileges to exploit this?

No. The attacker primarily needs authenticated access with the ability to create or update namespaced Kyverno Policies. The exploit leverages the Kyverno admission controller's own privileges, which may be higher than those of the attacking user.

What is the safest general fix pattern?

The safest pattern is to ensure that policy-driven API calls cannot escape their intended authorization boundary. This typically involves enforcing namespace scoping for `apiCall` operations, tightly constraining the Kyverno ServiceAccount's RBAC, and optionally gating or disabling high-risk features such as arbitrary `urlPath` construction in namespaced Policies.

Severity:

CRITICAL RISK

(9.9)

Authorization Boundary Bypass via Policy apiCall (CWE-269) in Kyverno Admission Controller

CVE-2026-22039

Published:

Jan 27, 2026

Status:

Analyzed

Summary

Affected Context

Exploit Preconditions

Why This Happens

Potential Impact

General Mitigation Guidance

How Teams Detect Issues Like This

Frequently Asked Questions

Source

NDV

Recent Vulnerabilities

CWE-306

CRITICAL RISK

CRITICAL

(9.8)

Missing Authentication for Forgot-Password Email Change API (CWE-306)

Account Takeover / Loss of Account Control

February 17, 2026

CWE-77;CWE-78

HIGH RISK

HIGH

(7.3)

OS Command Injection (CWE-78) in node-sonos-http-api TTS Provider for macOS

Remote Code Execution on the Server Host

February 17, 2026

Vulnerability Type

Category:

Authorization Bypass / Privilege Escalation

CWE:

CWE-269;CWE-918

Impact:

Privilege Escalation and Authorization Boundary Bypass across Kubernetes Namespaces

Severity:

CRITICAL RISK

(9.9)

CVSS Version:

3.1

Vulnerability Type

Category:

Authorization Bypass / Privilege Escalation

CWE:

CWE-269;CWE-918

Impact:

Privilege Escalation and Authorization Boundary Bypass across Kubernetes Namespaces

Severity:

CRITICAL RISK

(9.9)

CVSS Version:

3.1

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Authorization Boundary Bypass via Policy apiCall (CWE-269) in Kyverno Admission Controller

Summary

Affected Context

Exploit Preconditions

Why This Happens

Potential Impact

General Mitigation Guidance

How Teams Detect Issues Like This

Frequently Asked Questions

Source

Recent Vulnerabilities

CRITICAL RISK

CRITICAL

(9.8)

Missing Authentication for Forgot-Password Email Change API (CWE-306)

HIGH RISK

HIGH

(7.3)

OS Command Injection (CWE-78) in node-sonos-http-api TTS Provider for macOS

Vulnerability Type

Vulnerability Type

Vulnerability Type

Vulnerability Type

Catch This CVE While Code Is Being Written

Ship clean & secure code faster

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