# CVE-2026-61850: Kargo: Privilege escalation via Project RBAC management in the Kargo API

Status: published. Published: 2026-10-30. Updated: 2026-11-05.

Kargo manages and automates the promotion of software artifacts. From 0.6.0 until 1.8.14, 1.9.9, and 1.10.8, two authorization flaws in the `project-scoped RBAC API` let an authenticated user with delegated permission to manage a Project's `Roles` or `ServiceAccounts` confer permissions exceeding the user's own. A user authorized to edit `Roles` can create, replace, or add rules granting permissions not held by the user; a user authorized to edit a Role's ServiceAccount can bind an identity, including the user's own, to a more powerful Role. A Kargo Role comprises a `ServiceAccount, Role, and RoleBinding` in the Project namespace. Changes are written using the API server's broadly privileged credentials after only a coarse resource-kind edit check, rather than checking each permission being conferred. This permits escalation to Project-administrator access, disclosure of `Project Secrets` and credentials, and modification or deletion of Project resources. Stolen Git, container-registry, or Helm-registry credentials can extend confidentiality and integrity impacts to those external systems. Escalation remains limited to Projects where the attacker already has RBAC-management delegation and does not itself grant cluster-wide or cross-Project access. Default non-administrator roles do not permit these operations; exploitation requires an `administrator-created custom role` granting the relevant permissions and control of an account assigned that role. This issue is fixed in versions 1.8.14, 1.9.9, and 1.10.8.

## Remediation

No remediation reported in collected sources

## Affected products and versions

- akuity / kargo: >= 0.6.0, < 1.8.14 (affected); >= 1.9.0-rc.1, < 1.9.9 (affected); >= 1.10.0-rc.1, < 1.10.8 (affected). Source: CNA: GitHub_M

## Severity and prioritization

- CVSS 4.0: 9.3 (critical); CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:H/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:H/SI:H/SA:L; source: CNA: GitHub_M

- CISA KEV: No listing in collected sources

- EPSS: 0.36% as of 2026-11-04; percentile 29.85%

- SSVC: exploitation none; automatable no; technical impact total; source ADP: CISA-ADP

- Weaknesses: CWE-269

## Exploit evidence

No exploit evidence in collected sources. This is not proof of no exploitation.

## References

- https://github.com/akuity/kargo/security/advisories/GHSA-wp4p-hr79-q4g8 (CNA: GitHub_M; x_refsource_CONFIRM)

- https://github.com/akuity/kargo/commit/19639678811b486bddb014dabb25397771f3941e (CNA: GitHub_M; x_refsource_MISC)

- https://github.com/akuity/kargo/commit/50d29c10153965114f903645c83eadbe7bf58d3f (CNA: GitHub_M; x_refsource_MISC)

- https://github.com/akuity/kargo/commit/5ab7c4216a4151f55ea8ef9ff3b9f884dd322578 (CNA: GitHub_M; x_refsource_MISC)

- https://github.com/akuity/kargo/commit/72fadd3600b35e6dce67042eb686720a48b45fa3 (CNA: GitHub_M; x_refsource_MISC)

- https://github.com/akuity/kargo/releases/tag/v1.10.8 (CNA: GitHub_M; x_refsource_MISC)

- https://github.com/akuity/kargo/releases/tag/v1.11.0-rc.1 (CNA: GitHub_M; x_refsource_MISC)

- https://github.com/akuity/kargo/releases/tag/v1.8.14 (CNA: GitHub_M; x_refsource_MISC)

- https://github.com/akuity/kargo/releases/tag/v1.9.9 (CNA: GitHub_M; x_refsource_MISC)

## Provenance

- CNA: GitHub_M: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-61850; retrieved 2026-11-05; source updated 2026-11-05

- FIRST EPSS: https://api.first.org/data/v1/epss?cve=CVE-2026-61850; retrieved 2026-11-05; source updated Not reported

Revision: f541c364329dff2da21b3b74ad2c4001580b9b30ff563c7780e4ba2d96d08e78

Canonical: https://y2.dev/cve/CVE-2026-61850

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