CVE-2026-18675

Summary

The dataplane token validator in kuma-cp performs an unchecked Go type assertion on the JWT kid header. A token whose kid is a JSON number decodes as a float64 and triggers a runtime panic before any signature, claims, or authorization check runs.

The panic terminates the entire kuma-cp process, HTTP API, the health and readiness endpoints, and xDS. Unauthenticated access to the dataplane gRPC server can trigger the crash with a malformed token

A single request is a transient interruption; sustaining an outage requires repeated requests.

Affected Software

VendorProductVersion RangeStatus
Kong Inc.Kong Mesh0 < 2.7.29affected
Kong Inc.Kong Mesh2.8.0 < 2.9.19affected
Kong Inc.Kong Mesh2.10.0 < 2.11.18affected
Kong Inc.Kong Mesh2.12.0 < 2.12.14affected
Kong Inc.Kong Mesh2.13.0 < 2.13.10affected
Kong Inc.Kong Mesh2.14.0 < 2.14.2affected

Weaknesses

  • CWE-248: CWE-248 Uncaught Exception
  • CWE-704: CWE-704 Incorrect Type Conversion or Cast

Workarounds

Restrict network access to the dataplane (xDS) gRPC port to trusted data planes.

References