Kong Mesh: control plane denial of service via a malformed dataplane token with a non-string JWT kid
Summary
| CVE | CVE-2026-18675 |
|---|---|
| State | PUBLISHED |
| Assigner | Kong |
| Source Priority | CVE Program / NVD first with legacy fallback |
| Published | 2026-08-12 19:17:30 UTC |
| Updated | 2026-08-31 19:22:43 UTC |
| Description | The dataplane token validator in kuma-cp performs an unchecked Go type assertion on the JWT kid header. A token whose kid is a JSON number decodes as a float64 and triggers a runtime panic before any signature, claims, or authorization check runs. The panic terminates the entire kuma-cp process, HTTP API, the health and readiness endpoints, and xDS. Unauthenticated access to the dataplane gRPC server can trigger the crash with a malformed token A single request is a transient interruption; sustaining an outage requires repeated requests. |
Risk And Classification
Primary CVSS: v4.0 5.3 MEDIUM from 02762ae7-200e-4b20-9b2b-a77d5b8fc4cb
CVSS:4.0/AV:A/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/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
EPSS: 0.003840000 probability, percentile 0.314420000 (date 2026-09-01)
Problem Types: CWE-248 | CWE-704 | CWE-248 CWE-248 Uncaught Exception | CWE-704 CWE-704 Incorrect Type Conversion or Cast
| Version | Source | Type | Score | Severity | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4.0 | 02762ae7-200e-4b20-9b2b-a77d5b8fc4cb | Secondary | 5.3 | MEDIUM | CVSS:4.0/AV:A/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/C... |
| 4.0 | CNA | CVSS | 5.3 | MEDIUM | CVSS:4.0/AV:A/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N |
CVSS v4.0 Breakdown
CVSS:4.0/AV:A/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/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
Vendor Declared Affected Products
| Source | Vendor | Product | Version | Platforms |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CNA | Kong Inc. | Kong Mesh | affected 2.7.29 semver | Linux |
| CNA | Kong Inc. | Kong Mesh | affected 2.8.0 2.9.19 semver | Linux |
| CNA | Kong Inc. | Kong Mesh | affected 2.10.0 2.11.18 semver | Linux |
| CNA | Kong Inc. | Kong Mesh | affected 2.12.0 2.12.14 semver | Linux |
| CNA | Kong Inc. | Kong Mesh | affected 2.13.0 2.13.10 semver | Linux |
| CNA | Kong Inc. | Kong Mesh | affected 2.14.0 2.14.2 semver | Linux |
References
| Reference | Source | Link | Tags |
|---|---|---|---|
| github.com/kumahq/kuma/pull/17470 | 02762ae7-200e-4b20-9b2b-a77d5b8fc4cb | github.com | |
| github.com/kumahq/kuma/security/advisories/GHSA-5mxq-7xq4-3vx8 | 02762ae7-200e-4b20-9b2b-a77d5b8fc4cb | github.com | |
| github.com/kumahq/kuma/pull/17465 | 02762ae7-200e-4b20-9b2b-a77d5b8fc4cb | github.com | |
| github.com/kumahq/kuma/pull/17471 | 02762ae7-200e-4b20-9b2b-a77d5b8fc4cb | github.com | |
| github.com/kumahq/kuma/pull/17468 | 02762ae7-200e-4b20-9b2b-a77d5b8fc4cb | github.com | |
| developer.konghq.com/mesh/changelog | 02762ae7-200e-4b20-9b2b-a77d5b8fc4cb | developer.konghq.com | |
| github.com/kumahq/kuma/pull/17467 | 02762ae7-200e-4b20-9b2b-a77d5b8fc4cb | github.com | |
| github.com/kumahq/kuma/pull/17472 | 02762ae7-200e-4b20-9b2b-a77d5b8fc4cb | github.com | |
| github.com/kumahq/kuma/pull/17469 | 02762ae7-200e-4b20-9b2b-a77d5b8fc4cb | github.com | |
| CVE Program record | CVE.ORG | www.cve.org | canonical |
| NVD vulnerability detail | NVD | nvd.nist.gov | canonical, analysis |
Vendor Comments And Credit
Discovery Credit
CNA: https://hackerone.com/0ricky (en)
Additional Advisory Data
| Source | Time | Event |
|---|---|---|
| CNA | 2026-08-01T16:58:00.000Z | Kong Mesh patched releases published |
Solutions
CNA: Upgrade to Kong Mesh 2.7.29, 2.9.19, 2.11.18, 2.12.14, 2.13.10 or 2.14.2, whichever matches your release line. In patched versions the validator rejects a non-string kid header and the dataplane server recovers from handler panics.
Workarounds
CNA: Restrict network access to the dataplane (xDS) gRPC port to trusted data planes.