---
id: CVE-2026-61850
title: 'Kargo: Privilege escalation via Project RBAC management in the Kargo API'
summary: >-
  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…
severity: critical
cvss: 9.3
cvssVector: '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'
cvssSource: cna
cwe:
  - CWE-269
vendor: akuity
product: kargo
affected:
  - 'kargo >= 0.6.0, < 1.8.14'
  - 'kargo >= 1.9.0-rc.1, < 1.9.9'
  - 'kargo >= 1.10.0-rc.1, < 1.10.8'
ssvc:
  exploitation: none
  automatable: 'no'
  technicalImpact: total
  timestamp: '2026-11-05T02:34:09.151728Z'
published: '2026-10-30'
updated: '2026-11-05'
sourceUpdated: '2026-11-05T02:34:18.769Z'
source: CVEORG
sourceUrl: 'https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-61850'
references:
  - url: 'https://github.com/akuity/kargo/security/advisories/GHSA-wp4p-hr79-q4g8'
    label: 'https://github.com/akuity/kargo/security/advisories/GHSA-wp4p-hr79-q4g8'
  - url: >-
      https://github.com/akuity/kargo/commit/19639678811b486bddb014dabb25397771f3941e
    label: >-
      https://github.com/akuity/kargo/commit/19639678811b486bddb014dabb25397771f3941e
  - url: >-
      https://github.com/akuity/kargo/commit/50d29c10153965114f903645c83eadbe7bf58d3f
    label: >-
      https://github.com/akuity/kargo/commit/50d29c10153965114f903645c83eadbe7bf58d3f
  - url: >-
      https://github.com/akuity/kargo/commit/5ab7c4216a4151f55ea8ef9ff3b9f884dd322578
    label: >-
      https://github.com/akuity/kargo/commit/5ab7c4216a4151f55ea8ef9ff3b9f884dd322578
  - url: >-
      https://github.com/akuity/kargo/commit/72fadd3600b35e6dce67042eb686720a48b45fa3
    label: >-
      https://github.com/akuity/kargo/commit/72fadd3600b35e6dce67042eb686720a48b45fa3
  - url: 'https://github.com/akuity/kargo/releases/tag/v1.10.8'
    label: 'https://github.com/akuity/kargo/releases/tag/v1.10.8'
  - url: 'https://github.com/akuity/kargo/releases/tag/v1.11.0-rc.1'
    label: 'https://github.com/akuity/kargo/releases/tag/v1.11.0-rc.1'
  - url: 'https://github.com/akuity/kargo/releases/tag/v1.8.14'
    label: 'https://github.com/akuity/kargo/releases/tag/v1.8.14'
  - url: 'https://github.com/akuity/kargo/releases/tag/v1.9.9'
    label: 'https://github.com/akuity/kargo/releases/tag/v1.9.9'
tags:
  - cve.org
epss: 0.00359
epssPercentile: 0.29885
ingestedAt: '2026-11-05T21:36:00.698Z'
---

## Overview

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.

## Affected

- `kargo >= 0.6.0, < 1.8.14`
- `kargo >= 1.9.0-rc.1, < 1.9.9`
- `kargo >= 1.10.0-rc.1, < 1.10.8`

## Remediation

Refer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.