Kyverno before 1.19.2 Policy Bypass via admissionpolicygenerator PolicyException Handling

Summary

Kyverno before 1.19.2 contains a policy bypass vulnerability in the admissionpolicygenerator controller, which folds PolicyExceptions into generated ValidatingAdmissionPolicies while ignoring the --enablePolicyException, --exceptionNamespace, and policy kind gates. Users with namespaced create rights on PolicyExceptions can inject negated matchConditions into the generated policies to admit violating resources, bypassing cluster-wide enforcement.

Remediation

1. Inventory every kyverno kyverno deployment, including staging.
2. Upgrade kyverno kyverno to 1.19.2.
3. Confirm the running version after the upgrade.

References

• Advisoryhttps://github.com/kyverno/kyverno/security/advisories/GHSA-qc9c-3fgf-cgq8
• Advisoryhttps://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/kyverno-before-1.19.2-policy-bypass-via-admissionpolicygenerator-policyexception-handling