CVE-2026-61850
Kargo: Privilege escalation via Project RBAC management in the Kargo API
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.
Attack profile
How easy it is to exploit
- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges needed
- High
- User interaction
- None
What an attacker can affect
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
Exploit likelihood
What each source reports
CVE List Score used
9.3
Kargo: Privilege escalation via Project RBAC management in the Kargo API
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.
- Record
CVE-2026-61850- CVSS 4.0
- 9.3 Critical
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 - Weakness
- CWE-269
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
EUVDEUVD-2026-114371
9.3
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.
- Record
EUVD-2026-114371- CVSS 4.0
- 9.3 Critical
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 - Updated
- 2026-11-05
NVD
9.3
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.
- Record
CVE-2026-61850- CVSS 4.0
- 9.3 Critical
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 - Weakness
- CWE-269
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
OSV
9.3
Kargo: Privilege escalation via Project RBAC management in the Kargo API
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.
- Record
CVE-2026-61850- CVSS 4.0
- 9.3 Critical
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 - Weakness
- CWE-269
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
Affected products
History
| Recorded | Changed | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| facts | EUVD | |
| first indexed | CVE List, EUVD, NVD, OSV |
Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.
In short
CVE-2026-61850 is a critical vulnerability (CVSS 9.3) in Akuity Kargo, published October 30, 2026. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 0.36%, the 29th percentile. No source names a fixed version.
References
github.com/akuity/kargo/security/advisories/GHSA-wp4p-hr79-q4g8
github.com/akuity/kargo/commit/19639678811b486bddb014dabb25397771f3941e
github.com/akuity/kargo/commit/50d29c10153965114f903645c83eadbe7bf58d3f
github.com/akuity/kargo/commit/5ab7c4216a4151f55ea8ef9ff3b9f884dd322578
github.com/akuity/kargo/commit/72fadd3600b35e6dce67042eb686720a48b45fa3
github.com/akuity/kargo/releases/tag/v1.10.8