---
id: CVE-2026-54523
title: >-
  Kyverno is a policy engine designed for cloud native platform engineering
  teams
summary: >-
  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 …
severity: critical
cvss: 9.6
cvssVector: 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N'
cwe:
  - CWE-862
vendor: kyverno
product: github.com/kyverno/kyverno
affected:
  - 'github.com/kyverno/kyverno >= 1.18.0, <= 1.18.1'
patched:
  - github.com/kyverno/kyverno 1.18.2
published: '2026-08-26'
updated: '2026-09-09'
sourceUpdated: '2026-09-09T21:09:13.080'
source: NVD
sourceUrl: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-54523'
references:
  - url: >-
      https://github.com/kyverno/kyverno/commit/0919553c0ea1904f8d891280c92018da97946a06
    label: security-advisories@github.com
  - url: >-
      https://github.com/kyverno/kyverno/commit/5164bcdeda5b57678bc2d7a03ecc2cbb02982dae
    label: security-advisories@github.com
  - url: 'https://github.com/kyverno/kyverno/pull/16238'
    label: security-advisories@github.com
  - url: 'https://github.com/kyverno/kyverno/releases/tag/v1.18.2'
    label: security-advisories@github.com
  - url: 'https://github.com/kyverno/kyverno/security/advisories/GHSA-79gf-7frw-68m9'
    label: security-advisories@github.com
  - url: >-
      https://github.com/kyverno/sdk/commit/6573937441443e1ba5af9fbb28d5c0f20297f9df
    label: security-advisories@github.com
  - url: 'https://github.com/kyverno/kyverno/security/advisories/GHSA-79gf-7frw-68m9'
    label: 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0
  - url: 'https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-79gf-7frw-68m9'
tags:
  - nvd
  - ghsa
  - go
epss: 0.00401
epssPercentile: 0.34146
aliases:
  - GHSA-79gf-7frw-68m9
ecosystem: go
ingestedAt: '2026-08-26T14:45:08.370Z'
---

## Overview

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.

## Remediation

Refer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.

## Package advisory (CVE-2026-54523)

Affected packages:

- `github.com/kyverno/kyverno >= 1.18.0, <= 1.18.1`

Patched in:

- `github.com/kyverno/kyverno 1.18.2`

Source: https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-79gf-7frw-68m9