CVE-2026-40868 kyverno apicall servicecall implicit bearer token injection leaks kyverno serviceaccount token
Attackers can leak Kyverno service account tokens to external endpoints via policy-controlled API calls, enabling unauthorized access to cluster resources.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Any signed-in user
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2026-40868?
CVE-2026-40868 is a high-severity vulnerability in kyverno, published on 21 Apr 2026. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Official description
Kyverno is a policy engine designed for cloud native platform engineering teams. Prior to 1.16.4, 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. This vulnerability is fixed in 1.16.4.
Weakness: CWE-922
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-40868?
4 open source packages ship an affected version, including github.com/kyverno/kyverno and kyverno. It affects 1 product.
| Package | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
github.com/kyverno/kyverno Go | All versions | 1.17.0 |
github.com/kyverno/kyverno Go | All versions | 1.17.0 |
github.com/kyverno/kyverno Go | All versions | 1.17.0 |
kyverno Bitnami | All versions | 1.16.4 |
Products include Kyverno Kyverno.
How do I fix CVE-2026-40868?
Upgrade github.com/kyverno/kyverno to 1.17.0 or later.
Is CVE-2026-40868 being exploited?
It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2026-40868 exists.
Other vulnerabilities in kyverno
- CVE-2026-22039 Kyverno Cross-Namespace Privilege Escalation via Policy apiCall
- CVE-2026-4789 CVE-2026-4789
- CVE-2025-46342 Kyverno vulnerable to bypass of policy rules that use namespace selectors in match statements
- CVE-2026-41323 Kyverno: ServiceAccount token leaked to external servers via apiCall service URL
- CVE-2022-47633 kyverno verifyImages rule bypass possible with malicious proxy/registry
Sources
Also known as BIT-kyverno-2026-40868, ECHO-a7ef-0b97-6536, GHSA-q93q-v844-jrqp, GO-2026-5575, MINI-2p4q-qpv3-v7f4, MINI-6gh8-p2rc-3wxq and 11 more.