GitHub Advisoryadvisory · Go
GHSA-q93q-v844-jrqp kyverno apicall servicecall implicit bearer token injection leaks kyverno serviceaccount token
HIGH
Official page ↗
- Aliases
- CVE-2026-40868
- Ecosystem
- Go
- Packages
- github.com/kyverno/kyverno
- Severity
- High
- CVSS vector
- CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N
- Weaknesses
- CWE-441, CWE-922
- Reviewed
- 2026-04-14
Affected packages
• Go github.com/kyverno/kyverno: < 1.17.0 → fixed in 1.17.0
Description
kyverno’s apiCall servicecall helper implicitly injects `Authorization: Bearer ...` using the kyverno controller serviceaccount token when a policy does not explicitly set an Authorization header. because `context.apiCall.service.url` is policy-controlled, this can send the kyverno serviceaccount token to an attacker-controlled endpoint (confused deputy).
namespaced policies are blocked from servicecall usage by the namespaced `urlPath` gate in `pkg/engine/apicall/apiCall.go`, so this report is scoped to ClusterPolicy and global context usage.
attacker model
the attacker can create or update a ClusterPolicy (or create a GlobalContextEntry) which uses `context.apiCall.service.url` and can choose the request URL and headers. a cross-boundary framing for real deployments is gitops: if the policy repo/controller is compromised, the ClusterPolicy/global context entry becomes untrusted input to kyverno.
relevant links
• repository: https://github.com/kyverno/kyverno
• commit: 17aeb52337fd66adb0c8126213ba076612a287a7
• callsite (token injection): https://github.com/kyverno/kyverno/blob/17aeb52337fd66adb0c8126213ba076612a287a7/pkg/engine/apicall/executor.go#L150-L173
• namespaced policy gate (servicecall blocked): https://github.com/kyverno/kyverno/blob/17aeb52337fd66adb0c8126213ba076612a287a7/pkg/engine/apicall/apiCall.go#L67-L83
root cause
in `(*executor).addHTTPHeaders`, kyverno reads the serviceaccount token from `/var/run/secrets/kubernetes.io/serviceaccount/token` and injects it when the outgoing request has no Authorization header:
```go
if req.Header.Get("Authorization") == "" {
token := a.getToken()
if token != "" {
req.Header.Add("Authorization", "Bearer "+token)
}
}
```
proof of concept
the attached `poc.zip` is a reproducible cluster PoC. it uses an in-cluster HTTP receiver which logs the Authorization header it receives. the PoC does not print token bytes; it only checks that the received header is non-empty and not equal to the negative control.
run (one command):
```bash
unzip poc.zip -d poc
cd poc
make test
```
canonical (expected: implicit token injection):
```bash
unzip poc.zip -d poc
cd poc
make canonical
```
expected output includes:
```
[CALLSITE_HIT]: executor.addHTTPHeaders Authorization=="" -> read_serviceaccount_token=true
[PROOF_MARKER]: authorization_header_injected=true token_nonempty=true
```
control (expected: explicit Authorization header disables auto-injection):
```bash
unzip poc.zip -d poc
cd poc
make control
```
expected output includes:
```
[CALLSITE_HIT]: executor.addHTTPHeaders Authorization!="" -> autoinject_skipped=true
[NC_MARKER]: authorization_header_injected=false
```
optional: the canonical run may also print an `[RBAC]: ...` line using `kubectl auth can-i` with the exfiltrated token, to show concrete privileges without exposing the token.
impact
token exfiltration: the kyverno controller serviceaccount token is sent to a policy-controlled endpoint. impact depends on the rbac bound to that serviceaccount in the target deployment.
recommended fix
do not auto-inject the kyverno serviceaccount token into policy-controlled servicecall requests. require explicit Authorization configuration, or enforce a strict allowlist of destinations where credentials may be attached and document the behavior.
workarounds
• avoid using servicecall to arbitrary urls in policies.
• set an explicit Authorization header in servicecall policies to prevent implicit token injection.
poc.zip
PR_DESCRIPTION.md
oleh
Related
Alias · CVE (1)
- CVE-2026-40868 Kyverno is a policy engine designed for cloud native platform engineering teams. vulnerability