Kyverno CVE-2026-41068

Exploitation requires authenticated access with Kubernetes namespace administrator permissions (sufficient RBAC to create or modify Kyverno Policy or ClusterPolicy resources). Specifically, the attacker needs create or update verbs on policies.kyverno.io or clusterpolicies.kyverno.io resources. The target Kyverno deployment must be configured to allow policy creation by namespace admins (default in many installations to enable self-service policy management). The vulnerability affects clusters where ConfigMap context feature is enabled, which is standard functionality in Kyverno. Exploitation is LIMITED by requiring pre-existing namespace admin credentials; this is not a remote unauthenticated attack but rather a privilege escalation from namespace admin to cluster-wide ConfigMap reader. The low attack complexity (AC:L) reflects that no special timing, race conditions, or technical sophistication beyond basic Kubernetes policy authoring is required. Multi-tenant clusters using namespace isolation as a security boundary between teams or customers are most vulnerable, while single-tenant clusters where all users are trusted cluster admins face minimal additional risk.

Real-world risk is HIGH in multi-tenant Kubernetes clusters where namespace isolation is a security boundary. The CVSS vector (AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C) indicates network-accessible exploitation with low complexity requiring only low-privilege namespace admin credentials, with Changed Scope reflecting cross-namespace impact. The Confidentiality:High rating is accurate - attackers can exfiltrate sensitive configuration data (API keys, database credentials, internal service endpoints) stored in ConfigMaps across the entire cluster. However, Impact is limited to confidentiality; there is no direct code execution or cluster takeover. EPSS score unavailable, but no public exploit identified at time of analysis and no CISA KEV listing suggests exploitation is not yet widespread. The regression nature is concerning - the incomplete fix for CVE-2026-22039 indicates potential for additional undiscovered context loader vulnerabilities. Priority should be CRITICAL for multi-tenant clusters (SaaS platforms, shared development environments) and MEDIUM for single-tenant clusters where namespace boundaries are not security controls. The authentication requirement (PR:L) provides some defense - attackers need existing namespace admin access, making this a lateral movement/privilege escalation vector rather than initial access.

A malicious developer with namespace admin rights in the 'dev-team-a' namespace creates a Kyverno ClusterPolicy or namespaced Policy containing a ConfigMap context referencing namespace: kube-system and name: aws-auth (or any sensitive ConfigMap in another namespace). When Kyverno evaluates this policy, it uses its privileged service account to fetch the ConfigMap contents and makes them available in the policy context. The attacker crafts the policy to log or expose these values through policy rules, exfiltrating credentials or configuration secrets from namespaces they should not access. Publicly available exploit code exists in the form of the proof-of-concept vulnerability disclosure and fix commit, which demonstrates the exact exploitation technique.