CVE-2026-18674 PUBLISHED

Kong Mesh multi-zone: the global control plane attributes KDS-synced resources by an unvalidated in-band zone identifier

Assigner: Kong
Reserved: 03.08.2026 Published: 17.08.2026 Updated: 17.08.2026

On a Kong Mesh global control plane, resources received over the zone-to-global KDS sync are attributed using the in-band, sender-controlled ControlPlane.Identifier rather than the authenticated zone identity derived from the connection. Authenticated zones can have the global control plane store and re-distribute those resources as belonging to another zone.

The result is a cross-zone isolation bypass: the holder of a single enrolled zone's credential can inject, attribute, and overwrite resources in another zone's namespace mesh-wide.

The root cause lives in Kuma's open-source KDS sync code, which Kong Mesh's control plane is built on.

Metrics

CVSS Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:H/UI:N/VC:L/VI:H/VA:N/SC:L/SI:L/SA:N
CVSS Score: 7

GENERAL CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:H/UI:N/VC:L/VI:H/VA:N/SC:L/SI:L/SA:N

Product Status

Vendor Kong Inc.
Product Kong Mesh
Versions Default: unaffected
  • affected from 0 to 2.7.29 (excl.)
  • affected from 2.8.0 to 2.9.19 (excl.)
  • affected from 2.10.0 to 2.11.18 (excl.)
  • affected from 2.12.0 to 2.12.14 (excl.)
  • affected from 2.13.0 to 2.13.10 (excl.)
  • affected from 2.14.0 to 2.14.2 (excl.)

Affected Configurations

You are affected only if you run a multi-zone deployment of Kong Mesh. If a threat actor controls, or holds a valid zone token for, at least one enrolled zone they can leverage the issue. 

You are not affected if you run a single-zone deployment.

Workarounds

Restrict which zones may enroll and protect zone tokens. No configuration flag disables the in-band attribution, so upgrading is the only fix.

Solutions

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 global KDS ingest path attributes synced resources by the authenticated connection identity instead of the in-band field.

Credits

  • johanw finder

References

Problem Types

  • CWE-345 Insufficient Verification of Data Authenticity CWE
  • CWE-863 Incorrect Authorization CWE

Impacts

  • Cross-zone isolation bypass