GitHub Advisoryadvisory · Go

GHSA-q93q-v844-jrqp kyverno apicall servicecall implicit bearer token injection leaks kyverno serviceaccount token

HIGH Published 2026-04-14 Modified 2026-04-24 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

Weakness · CWE (2)

  • CWE-441 Unintended Proxy or Intermediary weakness
  • CWE-922 Insecure Storage of Sensitive Information weakness

References