CVE Intelligence
Medium Cryptography

CVE-2026-18678 — Kong Mesh: kumactl connects to the control plane without verifying the TLS certificate when no CA is configured

When an operator adds an HTTPS control plane profile to kumactl without providing a CA certificate, kumactl disables TLS verification and sends API tokens over the unverified connection. An attacker on the network path between the operator and the control plane can intercept user or admin API tokens and then act against the control plane as that user.

Published Aug 12, 2026 · Updated Oct 16, 2026 · Sources: NIST National Vulnerability Database, CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP · CNA: Kong

Who exploits it and how urgent it is

A 0–100 score combining confirmed exploitation, ransomware and APT use, public exploits, EPSS and severity.

No exploitation signal in the sources consulted so far.
How the score was calculated
  • EPSS 0.1% (30-day exploitation probability)+0
  • Technical severity (medium)+3

The score orders the patch queue; it does not replace your asset context (internet exposure, criticality, compensating controls).

Triage

Is it exploited, how likely is exploitation, what does it touch, and how severe do the sources call it.

Exploitation
Not confirmed
Not in CISA KEV — an absence of record, not proof it is unexploited.
EPSS FIRST
0.13%
ahead of 2% of scored CVEs · Oct 16, 2026
Affects
Kong
Kong Mesh
CVSS base
5.5
Medium · 2 source(s)

CISA SSVC assessment CISA

Three decision points CISA publishes for the CVEs it assesses (SSVC 2.0.3). A stakeholder decision, not a severity score.

Exploitation
None
none · proof-of-concept · active
Automatable
No
can an attacker script the kill-chain steps
Technical impact
Partial
partial · total control of the vulnerable component

Remediation

Fixes and mitigations documented by the sources — linked to the original advisory.

No fix documented by the sources we poll. That does not mean none exists: check the vendor advisory.

First 24 hours

Ordered from the record’s own fields — exposure first, because you cannot patch what you have not found. A rule-generated starting point.

  1. Identify exposed assets running the affected vendor/product/version combinations (Kong Kong Mesh).
  2. No fix documented in the sources: reduce exposure and monitor the vendor advisory.
  3. Exploitation requires user interaction: tighten email/web filtering and warn affected users.
  4. Search available logs for exploit probes matching the vulnerability class (cryptography), errors and authentication anomalies.

Affected scope

Vendor, product and versions as the sources word them.

VendorProductVersionsStatusSource
Kong Kong Mesh < 2.7.26≥ 2.8.0 and < 2.9.16≥ 2.10.0 and < 2.11.14≥ 2.12.0 and < 2.12.11≥ 2.13.0 and < 2.13.7 Vulnerable CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP

Attack characteristics

The CVSS vector, decoded. It describes the attack, not your exposure to it.

Attack vector
Adjacent
Attack complexity
High
Attack requirements
Present
Privileges required
None
User interaction
Passive
Scope
X
Confidentiality (vulnerable system)
None
Integrity (vulnerable system)
None
Availability (vulnerable system)
None
Confidentiality (subsequent)
High
Integrity (subsequent)
High
Availability (subsequent)
High

Every base score collected

Sources score independently and may disagree; each row says who scored it and under which version.

ScoreVersionSeverityExpl.ImpactScored by
5.5 CVSS 4.0 Medium — — 02762ae7-200e-4b20-9b2b-a77d5b8fc4cb via NIST National Vulnerability Database
5.5 CVSS 4.0 Medium — — Kong via CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP
CVSS:4.0/AV:A/AC:H/AT:P/PR:N/UI:P/VC:N/VI:N/VA:N/SC:H/SI:H/SA:H/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X (score shown at the top: 02762ae7-200e-4b20-9b2b-a77d5b8fc4cb)

Weakness MITRE

Weakness class according to MITRE’s CWE catalog.

CWE-295 · Improper Certificate Validation

Other CVEs with this weakness →

EPSS over time FIRST

Oct 15, 2026 → Oct 16, 2026 · 2 reading(s) · max 0.13%

Detection

Read off the CVSS vector and the weakness class. Starting points, not tested rules.

  • Check TLS negotiations and unexpected certificates in the component’s traffic.
network IDS/IPS

Timeline

What happened to this CVE, newest first.

  • 2026
  • Affected products added · kong inc./kong mesh
    Oct 16, 2026 · CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP
  • SSVC assessment updated
    Oct 16, 2026 · CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP
  • Record published
    Oct 15, 2026
  • CVSS changed · 5.5
    Oct 15, 2026 · NIST National Vulnerability Database
  • Source status changed · → Awaiting Analysis
    Oct 15, 2026 · NIST National Vulnerability Database
  • Record created in this database
    Oct 15, 2026 · NIST National Vulnerability Database
  • CVE published
    Aug 12, 2026 · Kong

Source activity

Repeated readings are counted rather than listed.

  • 1× Official description updated · Oct 15, 2026 – Oct 15, 2026

References

3 on the record

Elsewhere on this site

Kong
every CVE for this vendor
Cryptography
same class
CWE-295
other pages naming this weakness

Related CVEs (same products)

  • CVE-2026-18674 Kong Mesh multi-zone: the global control plane attributes KDS-synced resources by an unvalidated in-band zone identifier Aug 17, 2026
  • CVE-2026-18679 Kong Mesh: kuma-dp connects to the control plane without verifying the TLS certificate when no CA is configured Aug 12, 2026
  • CVE-2026-18677 Kong Mesh: a dataplane token without a workload binding can claim any workload's SPIFFE identity Aug 12, 2026
  • CVE-2026-18673 Kong Mesh: the kuma-dp readiness service exposes the Envoy admin API without authentication Aug 12, 2026
  • CVE-2026-18675 Kong Mesh: control plane denial of service via a malformed dataplane token with a non-string JWT kid Aug 12, 2026
  • CVE-2026-18676 Kong Mesh: default control plane config leaks the admin token cross-origin via a CORS wildcard and localhost admin Aug 12, 2026

Not in any source we poll

Listed rather than left blank: an empty field and an unmeasured one look identical on screen, and only one is a reason to look elsewhere.

  • No fixed version, patch or mitigation documented.
  • No confirmed IOCs, IP addresses, domains, file hashes, or malware artifacts supplied.
  • No organization-specific asset inventory, compensating-control status, or patch deployment evidence supplied.
  • No exploit packet captures, log samples, or incident case IDs supplied.

Answered from this record

Text assembled only from the fields above — no additional claims.

What should defenders know first?

CVE-2026-18678 is "Kong Mesh: kumactl connects to the control plane without verifying the TLS certificate when no CA is configured", rated Medium. It affects Kong Mesh (Kong); versions are in the scope table. It is not in CISA KEV, which does not rule out exploitation. CVSS 5.5 describes technical severity. EPSS 0.13% estimates the probability of exploitation in 30 days; neither replaces your asset context. First verify whether exposed or business-critical assets run the affected versions, apply vendor fixes or mitigations, and preserve logs for review.

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