Kyverno versions before 1.19.2 suffer from a missing authorization flaw that can be exploited by policy authors to read resources in other namespaces. By inserting a special annotation into a triggering ConfigMap, the background‑controller is tricked into executing a generate.clone or cloneList operation, copying the victim namespace’s ConfigMap into the attacker’s namespace. This vulnerability is an instance of improper authorization (CWE‑862) and can leak sensitive configuration data, compromising confidentiality across tenants.

The affected product is Kyverno (kyverno:kyverno). All releases earlier than 1.19.2 are vulnerable, as there is no specific version sub‑list. Any installation of Kyverno prior to this release carrying a background‑controller component that performs generate.clone or cloneList operations is subject to attack.

The CVSS score of 8.3 places the issue in the high severity range. The EPSS score is not available, so the likelihood of widespread exploitation cannot be quantified, but the absence of a KEV listing indicates no known active exploitation has been reported yet. Attackers who can create or modify the policy configuration for a namespaced policy have a direct path to read arbitrary ConfigMaps in other namespaces, making this a serious privilege‑escalation scenario within a Kubernetes cluster.