CVE-2026-18674: Kong Mesh multi-zone: the global control plane attributes KDS-synced resources by an unvalidated in-band zone identifier

Severity: high (CVSS 7.0 v4.0)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.6% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2026-08-17 · updated 2026-08-31
Weakness: CWE-345

Description

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.

Affected products

Kong Inc. Kong Mesh: before 2.7.29; from 2.8.0 before 2.9.19; from 2.10.0 before 2.11.18; from 2.12.0 before 2.12.14; from 2.13.0 before 2.13.10; from 2.14.0 before 2.14.2 — fixed in 2.11.18, 2.12.14, 2.13.10, 2.14.2, 2.7.29, 2.9.19

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Kong Inc. Kong Mesh 2.11.18, 2.12.14, 2.13.10, 2.14.2. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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