CVE-2026-18679

Kong Mesh: kuma-dp connects to the control plane without verifying the TLS certificate when no CA is configured

Published Aug 12, 2026 CVSS 4.0 · 5.8 Medium EPSS < 1% KEV · Not listed
Description
When kuma-dp is started against an HTTPS control plane and the operator did not pass a CA certificate, the data plane connects with TLS peer verification disabled, and the dataplane authentication token is sent over that unverified connection.



An on-path actor can intercept the dataplane authentication token and impersonate the control plane to the data plane, injecting a forged bootstrap configuration and taking over the proxy.

Remediation

Vendor 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.


Vendor Workaround

Set --ca-cert-file, or KUMA_CONTROL_PLANE_CA_CERT, on every universal mode data plane and point it at the control plane's serving CA. Alternatively terminate the control plane behind a publicly trusted certificate.

Tracking

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Advisories

No advisories available
History
Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'no', 'Exploitation': 'none', 'Technical Impact': 'partial'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}

Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Konghq
Konghq kong Mesh
Vendors & Products Konghq
Konghq kong Mesh
Type Values Removed Values Added
Description When kuma-dp is started against an HTTPS control plane and the operator did not pass a CA certificate, the data plane connects with TLS peer verification disabled, and the dataplane authentication token is sent over that unverified connection. An on-path actor can intercept the dataplane authentication token and impersonate the control plane to the data plane, injecting a forged bootstrap configuration and taking over the proxy.
Title Kong Mesh: kuma-dp connects to the control plane without verifying the TLS certificate when no CA is configured
Weaknesses CWE-295
References
Metrics cvssV4_0

{'score': 5.8, 'vector': 'CVSS:4.0/AV:A/AC:H/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:N/SC:H/SI:H/SA:H'}

Weaknesses

Sources

Status
PUBLISHED
Assigner
Kong
Published
Updated
Aug 13, 2026, 2:45 PM
Reserved
Aug 3, 2026, 3:20 PM
Status
Awaiting Analysis
Published
Aug 12, 2026, 8:17 PM
Modified
Oct 23, 2026, 7:10 PM