# CVE-2026-16543: Kong Operator denial of service via duplicate CA-certificate IDs in KIC

Source: https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2026-16543-kong-operator-denial-of-service-via-duplicate-ca-certificate-ids  
Publisher: Junglewise Threat Intelligence, https://junglewise.ai/threats  
Published: 2026-07-29. Updated: 2026-07-29  
License: CC BY 4.0 with a link back

CVE-2026-16543 · Severity: info · CVSS 7.1 · Published 2026-07-29

Kong Operator, a tool used to manage Kong Gateway deployments on Kubernetes, contains a vulnerability in its embedded Ingress Controller. A user with limited permissions to create 'Secrets' in a single namespace can trigger a cluster-wide denial of service. By providing specific duplicate identifiers in these Secrets, an attacker can cause the entire Kong Gateway configuration to fail, preventing any new traffic rules or security updates from being applied across the entire organization's infrastructure.

Vendors: [Kong](https://junglewise.ai/threats/vendors/kong).

## Quick answers

**Is CVE-2026-16543 exploited in the wild?** No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-2026-16543 being exploited in the wild.

**How severe is CVE-2026-16543?** Informational severity, with a CVSS score of 7.1, published 29 July 2026.

**Which products and versions are affected?** Kong Operator < 2.0.11, 2.1.0 - 2.1.8, 2.2.0 - 2.2.2.

**Is there a fix for CVE-2026-16543?** A patch was published on 2026-07-29. Junglewise finds every place you run it, drafts the upgrade and applies it once you approve.

**How is CVE-2026-16543 attacked?** It is attacked over the network, in a software library.

**Am I affected by CVE-2026-16543?** Check whether you run Kong Operator at an affected version. Junglewise does that check for you around the clock: connect your code, cloud and domains, and it matches new vulnerabilities like this one against what you actually run and tells you when one reaches you.

## Technical details

The vulnerability exists in the embedded Kong Kubernetes Ingress Controller (KIC) within Kong Operator. The KIC collects CA-certificate Secrets across all watched namespaces using only a label selector, failing to enforce ingress-class or namespace restrictions. Because the CA-certificate primary key (ID) is derived from a user-supplied field in the Secret, an attacker with namespace-scoped 'Secret' creation privileges can craft duplicate IDs. When Kong Gateway receives a declarative configuration containing these duplicate primary keys, it rejects the entire configuration document. This results in a cluster-wide denial of service (DoS) for all pending ingress configuration changes, including routes, plugins, and services. The issue is fixed in versions 2.2.3, 2.1.9, and 2.0.11 by implementing per-object translation failure handling instead of total configuration rejection.

## Affected products

- Kong kong-operator < 2.0.11, 2.1.0 - 2.1.8, 2.2.0 - 2.2.2

## Timeline

- 2026-07-29: advisory
- 2026-07-29: patched

## References

- [https://github.com/](https://github.com/)
- [https://github.com/Kong/kong-operator/security/advisories/GHSA-h4fh-j7xg-vwcx](https://github.com/Kong/kong-operator/security/advisories/GHSA-h4fh-j7xg-vwcx)