CVE-2026-16543
Kong Operator cluster-wide ingress configuration DoS via embedded KIC CA-certificate ID collision
Description
Kong Operator's embedded Kong Kubernetes Ingress Controller (KIC) allows a user with namespace-scoped Secret creation privileges to cause a cluster-wide ingress configuration denial of service. The embedded KIC collects CA-certificate Secrets across all watched namespaces using a label selector alone, without ingress-class or namespace restrictions. The CA-certificate primary key is derived from a user-supplied field in the Secret. Duplicate CA-certificate IDs cause Kong Gateway to reject the entire configuration document and halting all ingress changes cluster-wide.
INFO
Published Date :
July 29, 2026, 4:17 p.m.
Last Modified :
July 29, 2026, 6:16 p.m.
Remotely Exploit :
Yes !
Source :
02762ae7-200e-4b20-9b2b-a77d5b8fc4cb
Affected Products
The following products are affected by CVE-2026-16543
vulnerability.
Even if cvefeed.io is aware of the exact versions of the
products
that
are
affected, the information is not represented in the table below.
No affected product recoded yet
CVSS Scores
| Score | Version | Severity | Vector | Exploitability Score | Impact Score | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CVSS | 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0 | |||||
| CVSS 4.0 | HIGH | 02762ae7-200e-4b20-9b2b-a77d5b8fc4cb | ||||
| CVSS 4.0 | HIGH | 02762ae7-200e-4b20-9b2b-a77d5b8fc4cb |
Solution
- Apply RBAC to limit Secret creation privileges.
- Update KIC to restrict watched namespaces.
- Validate CA certificate uniqueness before applying.
- Use ingress-class restrictions for CA certificates.
References to Advisories, Solutions, and Tools
Here, you will find a curated list of external links that provide in-depth
information, practical solutions, and valuable tools related to
CVE-2026-16543.
| URL | Resource |
|---|---|
| https://github.com/Kong/kong-operator/security/advisories/GHSA-h4fh-j7xg-vwcx |
CWE - Common Weakness Enumeration
While CVE identifies
specific instances of vulnerabilities, CWE categorizes the common flaws or
weaknesses that can lead to vulnerabilities. CVE-2026-16543 is
associated with the following CWEs:
Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)
Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification
(CAPEC)
stores attack patterns, which are descriptions of the common attributes and
approaches employed by adversaries to exploit the CVE-2026-16543
weaknesses.
We scan GitHub repositories to detect new proof-of-concept exploits. Following list is a collection of public exploits and proof-of-concepts, which have been published on GitHub (sorted by the most recently updated).
Results are limited to the first 15 repositories due to potential performance issues.
The following list is the news that have been mention
CVE-2026-16543 vulnerability anywhere in the article.
The following table lists the changes that have been made to the
CVE-2026-16543 vulnerability over time.
Vulnerability history details can be useful for understanding the evolution of a vulnerability, and for identifying the most recent changes that may impact the vulnerability's severity, exploitability, or other characteristics.
-
CVE Modified by 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0
Jul. 29, 2026
Action Type Old Value New Value Added SSVC {'id': 'CVE-2026-16543', 'role': 'CISA Coordinator', 'options': [{'exploitation': 'none'}, {'automatable': 'no'}, {'technicalImpact': 'partial'}], 'version': '2.0.3', 'timestamp': '2026-07-29T17:57:12.581830Z'} -
New CVE Received by 02762ae7-200e-4b20-9b2b-a77d5b8fc4cb
Jul. 29, 2026
Action Type Old Value New Value Added Affected [{'repo': 'https://github.com/Kong/kong-operator', 'versions': [{'status': 'affected', 'version': '2.2.0', 'lessThan': '2.2.3', 'versionType': 'semver'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': '2.1.0', 'lessThan': '2.1.9', 'versionType': 'semver'}, {'status': 'affected', 'version': '0', 'lessThan': '2.0.11', 'versionType': 'semver'}], 'packageName': 'Kong/kong-operator', 'collectionURL': 'https://github.com', 'defaultStatus': 'unaffected'}] Added Description Kong Operator's embedded Kong Kubernetes Ingress Controller (KIC) allows a user with namespace-scoped Secret creation privileges to cause a cluster-wide ingress configuration denial of service. The embedded KIC collects CA-certificate Secrets across all watched namespaces using a label selector alone, without ingress-class or namespace restrictions. The CA-certificate primary key is derived from a user-supplied field in the Secret. Duplicate CA-certificate IDs cause Kong Gateway to reject the entire configuration document and halting all ingress changes cluster-wide. Added CVSS V4.0 AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X Added CWE CWE-400 Added CWE CWE-862 Added Reference https://github.com/Kong/kong-operator/security/advisories/GHSA-h4fh-j7xg-vwcx