The default kuma-cp configuration in Kong Mesh reveals the admin bootstrap token and signing keys to any webpage the operator visits while the control plane is reachable from their browser. Due to a CORS misconfiguration a cross-origin fetch() from a malicious page returns the admin JWT and signing material.

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Fixes

Solution

Upgrade to Kong Mesh 2.7.25, 2.9.15, 2.11.13, 2.12.10 or 2.13.5, whichever matches your release line. In patched versions the corsAllowedDomains default changed from [".*"] to [], making CORS opt-in, and localhostIsAdmin was hardened to require a direct loopback RemoteAddr and Host and to reject requests carrying proxy-hop headers (X-Forwarded-For), cross-site fetch metadata (Sec-Fetch-Site), or a non-localhost Origin. The 2.14 line shipped after the fix and was never affected.


Workaround

Set KUMA_API_SERVER_AUTHN_LOCALHOST_IS_ADMIN=false after retrieving the admin token, set KUMA_API_SERVER_CORS_ALLOWED_DOMAINS to an explicit allowlist such as http://localhost:5681,http://127.0.0.1:5681, and do not run kuma-cp on a machine used to browse untrusted sites.

History

Wed, 12 Aug 2026 19:00:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description The default kuma-cp configuration in Kong Mesh reveals the admin bootstrap token and signing keys to any webpage the operator visits while the control plane is reachable from their browser. Due to a CORS misconfiguration a cross-origin fetch() from a malicious page returns the admin JWT and signing material.
Title Kong Mesh: default control plane config leaks the admin token cross-origin via a CORS wildcard and localhost admin
Weaknesses CWE-346
CWE-942
References
Metrics cvssV4_0

{'score': 5.1, 'vector': 'CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:A/VC:L/VI:L/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N'}


Projects

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cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: Kong

Published:

Updated: 2026-08-12T18:43:32.594Z

Reserved: 2026-08-03T15:20:44.526Z

Link: CVE-2026-18676

cve-icon Vulnrichment

No data.

cve-icon NVD

Status : Received

Published: 2026-08-12T19:17:30.813

Modified: 2026-08-12T19:17:30.813

Link: CVE-2026-18676

cve-icon Redhat

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cve-icon OpenCVE Enrichment

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Weaknesses