You are affected if all of the following hold:
ControlPlane resource that uses the embedded KIC.ControlPlane is configured with spec.watchNamespaces.type: All, causing the embedded KIC to watch Secrets cluster-wide.ControlPlane, and are not prevented from applying both the konghq.com/secret=true and konghq.com/ca-cert=true labels.You are not affected if:
ControlPlane uses spec.watchNamespaces.type: Own or a tightly scoped spec.watchNamespaces.type: List covering only namespaces whose users are all fully trusted.konghq.com/secret=true and konghq.com/ca-cert=true in any namespace watched by the ControlPlane.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.
"}],"value":"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."}],"impacts":[{"capecId":"CAPEC-240","descriptions":[{"lang":"en","value":"CAPEC-240 Resource Injection"}]},{"descriptions":[{"lang":"en","value":"Denial of Service"}]}],"metrics":[{"cvssV4_0":{"Automatable":"NOT_DEFINED","Recovery":"NOT_DEFINED","Safety":"NOT_DEFINED","attackComplexity":"LOW","attackRequirements":"NONE","attackVector":"NETWORK","baseScore":7.1,"baseSeverity":"HIGH","exploitMaturity":"NOT_DEFINED","privilegesRequired":"LOW","providerUrgency":"NOT_DEFINED","subAvailabilityImpact":"NONE","subConfidentialityImpact":"NONE","subIntegrityImpact":"NONE","userInteraction":"NONE","valueDensity":"NOT_DEFINED","vectorString":"CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N","version":"4.0","vulnAvailabilityImpact":"HIGH","vulnConfidentialityImpact":"NONE","vulnIntegrityImpact":"NONE","vulnerabilityResponseEffort":"NOT_DEFINED"},"format":"CVSS","scenarios":[{"lang":"en","value":"GENERAL"}]}],"problemTypes":[{"descriptions":[{"cweId":"CWE-862","description":"CWE-862","lang":"en","type":"CWE"}]},{"descriptions":[{"cweId":"CWE-400","description":"CWE-400","lang":"en","type":"CWE"}]}],"providerMetadata":{"dateUpdated":"2026-07-29T15:29:03.485Z","orgId":"02762ae7-200e-4b20-9b2b-a77d5b8fc4cb","shortName":"Kong"},"references":[{"url":"https://github.com/Kong/kong-operator/security/advisories/GHSA-h4fh-j7xg-vwcx"}],"solutions":[{"lang":"en","supportingMedia":[{"base64":false,"type":"text/html","value":"Upgrade to the patched version of Kong Operator: 2.2.3, 2.1.9 or 2.0.11."}],"value":"Upgrade to the patched version of Kong Operator: 2.2.3, 2.1.9 or 2.0.11."}],"source":{"discovery":"INTERNAL"},"title":"Kong Operator cluster-wide ingress configuration DoS via embedded KIC CA-certificate ID collision","workarounds":[{"lang":"en","supportingMedia":[{"base64":false,"type":"text/html","value":"1. RestrictControlPlane watch scope: Change spec.watchNamespaces.type from All to Own or a narrowly defined List that covers only namespaces whose users are trusted operators. This prevents the embedded KIC from ingesting Secrets from untrusted namespaces.konghq.com/secret=true and konghq.com/ca-cert=true. Consider using an admission webhook or OPA/Kyverno policy to enforce this label restriction.konghq.com/ca-cert=true across all watched namespaces for unexpected or duplicate data.id values. Remove any that were not provisioned by a trusted operator.