When an operator adds an HTTPS control plane profile to kumactl without providing a CA certificate, kumactl disables TLS verification and sends API tokens over the unverified connection.



An attacker on the network path between the operator and the control plane can intercept user or admin API tokens and then act against the control plane as that user.

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Advisories

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Fixes

Solution

Upgrade to Kong Mesh 2.7.26, 2.9.16, 2.11.14, 2.12.11 or 2.13.7, whichever matches your release line. Patched releases fall back to the operating system trust store instead of disabling verification, so a publicly trusted control plane certificate verifies with no further configuration. The 2.14 line shipped after the fix and was never affected.


Workaround

When adding an HTTPS control plane profile to kumactl, always pass --ca-cert-file pointing at the control plane's serving CA. Alternatively terminate the control plane behind a publicly trusted certificate.

History

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

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description When an operator adds an HTTPS control plane profile to kumactl without providing a CA certificate, kumactl disables TLS verification and sends API tokens over the unverified connection. An attacker on the network path between the operator and the control plane can intercept user or admin API tokens and then act against the control plane as that user.
Title Kong Mesh: kumactl connects to the control plane without verifying the TLS certificate when no CA is configured
Weaknesses CWE-295
References
Metrics cvssV4_0

{'score': 5.5, 'vector': 'CVSS:4.0/AV:A/AC:H/AT:P/PR:N/UI:P/VC:N/VI:N/VA:N/SC:H/SI:H/SA:H'}


Projects

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cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: Kong

Published:

Updated: 2026-08-12T18:49:45.530Z

Reserved: 2026-08-03T15:20:46.760Z

Link: CVE-2026-18678

cve-icon Vulnrichment

No data.

cve-icon NVD

Status : Received

Published: 2026-08-12T19:17:31.323

Modified: 2026-08-12T19:17:31.323

Link: CVE-2026-18678

cve-icon Redhat

No data.

cve-icon OpenCVE Enrichment

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Weaknesses