CVE-2025-46342 in Kyverno
Summary
by MITRE • 04/30/2025
Kyverno is a policy engine designed for cloud native platform engineering teams. Prior to versions 1.13.5 and 1.14.0, it may happen that policy rules using namespace selector(s) in their match statements are mistakenly not applied during admission review request processing due to a missing error propagation in function `GetNamespaceSelectorsFromNamespaceLister` in `pkg/utils/engine/labels.go`. As a consequence, security-critical mutations and validations are bypassed, potentially allowing attackers with K8s API access to perform malicious operations. This issue has been patched in versions 1.13.5 and 1.14.0.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 04/30/2025
CVE-2025-46342 represents a critical vulnerability in Kyverno policy engine that affects versions prior to 1.13.5 and 1.14.0. This flaw resides in the `GetNamespaceSelectorsFromNamespaceLister` function within the `pkg/utils/engine/labels.go` file, where error propagation is absent during admission review request processing. The vulnerability specifically impacts policy rules that utilize namespace selectors in their match statements, creating a scenario where security-critical mutations and validations may be silently bypassed without any error indication to administrators. This issue directly undermines the core security posture of cloud native environments where Kyverno is deployed as a policy engine for platform engineering teams.
The technical root cause of this vulnerability stems from improper error handling within the namespace selector processing logic. When Kyverno attempts to evaluate policy rules against admission review requests, the function fails to properly propagate errors that occur during namespace lister operations. This missing error propagation means that even when namespace selector matching encounters issues such as failed API calls or invalid namespace references, the system continues processing without raising alerts or preventing the application of security policies. The vulnerability is classified as a weakness in error handling and resource management, aligning with CWE-755 - Improper Handling of Exceptional Conditions and CWE-252 - Incorrect Check of Function Return Value. The flaw operates at the intersection of Kubernetes admission control and policy enforcement, creating a dangerous blind spot in security controls.
The operational impact of CVE-2025-46342 is severe for organizations relying on Kyverno for security policy enforcement. Attackers with legitimate access to the Kubernetes API can exploit this vulnerability to bypass critical security controls by crafting admission requests that target namespaces where the policy matching logic fails silently. This creates opportunities for privilege escalation, unauthorized resource modifications, and potential data exfiltration through bypassed validation rules. The vulnerability is particularly concerning in multi-tenant environments where namespace isolation is critical for security. According to ATT&CK framework, this issue maps to T1078 - Valid Accounts and T1566 - Phishing, as it allows attackers to exploit legitimate API access to circumvent security controls. Organizations may experience unauthorized modifications to Kubernetes resources, including pod configurations, service definitions, and namespace policies, all while the security system continues to operate without indicating any failure in policy enforcement.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2025-46342 require immediate deployment of Kyverno versions 1.13.5 or 1.14.0, which contain the necessary patches to address the error propagation issue. Organizations should conduct thorough security audits to identify any policy rules that depend on namespace selectors, as these are most vulnerable to the bypass behavior. Additionally, implementing comprehensive monitoring and logging of admission review requests can help detect anomalous behavior patterns that might indicate exploitation attempts. Security teams should also review their current policy configurations to ensure proper error handling and validation mechanisms are in place. The fix addresses the core issue by implementing proper error propagation in the namespace selector matching logic, ensuring that any failures in namespace lister operations result in appropriate handling rather than silent bypass of security controls. Organizations should also consider implementing additional security layers such as pod security policies and network policies to provide defense-in-depth against potential exploitation attempts.