CVE-2026-49445: Cilium world-accessible Envoy admin socket on cluster nodes

CVE-2026-49445 · Severity: critical · CVSS 9.2 · Published 2026-07-15

Cilium is a networking and security platform used to manage communication between applications in cloud environments. A security flaw was discovered where a critical internal control component (Envoy) was accessible to any user on the underlying server. An attacker with local access could exploit this to steal encryption keys, disrupt network traffic, or shut down networking services, potentially leading to a complete cluster compromise.

Technologies: Cilium, github.com/cilium/cilium (Go). Vendors: Cilium, Go.

Quick answers

Is CVE-2026-49445 exploited in the wild?
No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-2026-49445 being exploited in the wild.
How severe is CVE-2026-49445?
Critical severity, with a CVSS score of 9.2, published 15 July 2026.
Which products and versions are affected?
Cilium < 1.17.14, >= 1.18.0 < 1.18.8, >= 1.19.0 < 1.19.2, < 1.17.14, 1.18.0 - 1.18.7, 1.19.0 - 1.19.1; github.com/cilium/cilium (Go) SEMVER:introduced=0,fixed=1.17.14,introduced=1.18.0,fixed=1.18.8,introduced=1.19.0,fixed=1.19.2, SEMVER:introduced=1.19.0,fixed=1.19.2.
Is there a fix for CVE-2026-49445?
Yes. github.com/cilium/cilium (Go): upgrade to 1.19.2 or later. Junglewise finds every place you run it, drafts the upgrade and applies it once you approve.
How is CVE-2026-49445 attacked?
It is attacked with local access, in a software library.
Am I affected by CVE-2026-49445?
Check whether you run Cilium or github.com/cilium/cilium (Go) 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.

How to fix

  • github.com/cilium/cilium (Go): upgrade to 1.19.2 or later
    go get github.com/cilium/cilium@v1.19.2

Technical details

A vulnerability exists in Cilium where the embedded or standalone Envoy instance creates a Unix domain socket (admin.sock) with world-accessible permissions (mode 0777) instead of restricted permissions. This occurs when Cilium L7 functionality is enabled. A local attacker on a cluster node can connect to this socket to access Envoy's administrative endpoints without authentication. This access allows for the extraction of sensitive TLS secrets, modification of Envoy configurations, disruption of cluster traffic, or termination of the Envoy process. The fix explicitly sets the socket mode to 0660.

Affected products

  • Cilium Cilium < 1.17.14, >= 1.18.0 < 1.18.8, >= 1.19.0 < 1.19.2

Identifiers

  • CVE-2026-49445
  • GHSA-3fcv-jvfp-m4q9
  • GO-2026-5905

Timeline

  • 2026-07-15: advisory: NVD publication date
  • 2026-02-26: patched: Fix merged into main branch

References

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