Kargo: Privilege escalation via Project RBAC management in the Kargo API (akuity kargo)
At a glance
- Source
- NVD
- State
- PUBLISHED
- Published
- Updated
- Assigner
- GitHub_M
- NVD status
- Deferred
Description
Kargo manages and automates the promotion of software artifacts. From 0.6.0 until 1.8.14, 1.9.9, and 1.10.8, two authorization flaws in the `project-scoped RBAC API` let an authenticated user with delegated permission to manage a Project's `Roles` or `ServiceAccounts` confer permissions exceeding the user's own. A user authorized to edit `Roles` can create, replace, or add rules granting permissions not held by the user; a user authorized to edit a Role's ServiceAccount can bind an identity, including the user's own, to a more powerful Role. A Kargo Role comprises a `ServiceAccount, Role, and RoleBinding` in the Project namespace. Changes are written using the API server's broadly privileged credentials after only a coarse resource-kind edit check, rather than checking each permission being conferred. This permits escalation to Project-administrator access, disclosure of `Project Secrets` and credentials, and modification or deletion of Project resources. Stolen Git, container-registry, or Helm-registry credentials can extend confidentiality and integrity impacts to those external systems. Escalation remains limited to Projects where the attacker already has RBAC-management delegation and does not itself grant cluster-wide or cross-Project access. Default non-administrator roles do not permit these operations; exploitation requires an `administrator-created custom role` granting the relevant permissions and control of an account assigned that role. This issue is fixed in versions 1.8.14, 1.9.9, and 1.10.8.
Weaknesses (CWE)
- CWE-269 β Improper Privilege Management
References
- https://github.com/akuity/kargo/security/advisories/GHSA-wp4p-hr79-q4g8
- https://github.com/akuity/kargo/commit/19639678811b486bddb014dabb25397771f3941e
- https://github.com/akuity/kargo/commit/50d29c10153965114f903645c83eadbe7bf58d3f
- https://github.com/akuity/kargo/commit/5ab7c4216a4151f55ea8ef9ff3b9f884dd322578
- https://github.com/akuity/kargo/commit/72fadd3600b35e6dce67042eb686720a48b45fa3
- https://github.com/akuity/kargo/releases/tag/v1.10.8
- https://github.com/akuity/kargo/releases/tag/v1.11.0-rc.1
- https://github.com/akuity/kargo/releases/tag/v1.8.14
- https://github.com/akuity/kargo/releases/tag/v1.9.9
Scores
| Version | Score | Vector | Scored by |
|---|---|---|---|
| CVSS 4.0 | CRITICAL 9.3 | CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:H/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:H/SI:H/SA:L | GitHub_M |
| CVSS 4.0 | CRITICAL 9.3 | CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:H/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:H/SI:H/SA:L/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 | NVD Β· security-advisories@github.com (Secondary) |
European references
- ENISA EUVD Β· EUVD-2026-114371
- GCVE Β· GCVE-0-2026-61850
Affected products
| Product | Versions |
|---|---|
| akuity Β· kargo | affected >= 0.6.0, < 1.8.14 ; affected >= 1.9.0-rc.1, < 1.9.9 ; affected >= 1.10.0-rc.1, < 1.10.8 |
Sources
| Source | Licence |
|---|---|
| CVE List (CVEProject cvelistV5) | CVE Program Terms of Use |
| ENISA EUVD | ENISA β reproduction authorised, source acknowledged |
| NVD (NIST) via fkie-cad/nvd-json-data-feeds | Public domain β this product uses data from the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD |