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.
Published: 2026-08-12
Score: 5.8 Medium
EPSS: n/a
KEV: No
Impact: n/a
Action: n/a
AI Analysis

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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

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History

Wed, 12 Aug 2026 19:30:00 +0000

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'}


Subscriptions

No data.

cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: Kong

Published:

Updated: 2026-08-12T18:52:31.146Z

Reserved: 2026-08-03T15:20:48.055Z

Link: CVE-2026-18679

cve-icon Vulnrichment

No data.

cve-icon NVD

Status : Received

Published: 2026-08-12T20:17:41.957

Modified: 2026-08-12T20:17:41.957

Link: CVE-2026-18679

cve-icon Redhat

No data.

cve-icon OpenCVE Enrichment

No data.

Weaknesses