Medium exploit reference

CVE-2026-25542 — Tekton Pipelines: VerificationPolicy regex pattern bypass via substring matching

Tekton Pipelines project provides k8s-style resources for declaring CI/CD-style pipelines. Starting in version 0.43.0 and prior to versions 1.0.2, 1.3.4, 1.6.2, 1.9.3, and 1.11.1, trusted resources verification policies match a resource source string (refSource.URI) against spec.resources[].pattern using regexp.MatchString. In Go, regexp.MatchString reports a match if the pattern matches anywhere in the string, so common unanchored patterns (including examples in tekton documentation) can be bypassed by attacker-controlled source strings that contain the trusted pattern as a substring. This can cause an unintended policy match and change which verification mode/keys apply. Versions 1.0.2, 1.3.4, 1.6.2, 1.9.3, and 1.11.1 fix the issue.

Published Apr 21, 2026 · Updated Oct 13, 2026 · Sources: NIST National Vulnerability Database, CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP · CNA: GitHub_M

Low

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 0.4% (30-day exploitation probability)+5
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

0.39%

ahead of 31% of scored CVEs · Oct 14, 2026

Affects

Linuxfoundation

Tekton Pipelines and 1 more

CVSS base

6.5

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

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.

Documented patch — github.com (NIST National Vulnerability Database)

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.

Identify exposed assets running the affected vendor/product/version combinations (Linuxfoundation Tekton Pipelines, Tektoncd Pipeline).
Apply the fixed version or the patch documented under Remediation.
Search available logs for exploit probes, errors and authentication anomalies.

Affected scope

Vendor, product and versions as the sources word them.

Vendor	Product	Versions	Status	Source
Linuxfoundation	Tekton Pipelines	≥ 0.43.0 and < 1.11.0	Vulnerable	NIST National Vulnerability Database
Tektoncd	Pipeline	version >= 0.43.0, < 1.0.2version >= 1.2.0, < 1.3.4version >= 1.4.0, < 1.6.2version >= 1.7.0, < 1.9.3version >= 1.10.0, < 1.11.1	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

Network

Attack complexity

Low

Privileges required

Low

User interaction

None

Scope

Unchanged

Confidentiality

None

Integrity

High

Availability

None

Every base score collected

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

Score	Version	Severity	Expl.	Impact	Scored by
6.5	CVSS 3.1	Medium	2.8	3.6	security-advisories@github.com via NIST National Vulnerability Database
6.5	CVSS 3.1	Medium	—	—	GitHub_M via CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N (score shown at the top: security-advisories@github.com)

Weakness MITRE

Weakness class according to MITRE’s CWE catalog.

CWE-185

Other CVEs with this weakness →

EPSS over time FIRST

Oct 13, 2026 → Oct 14, 2026 · 2 reading(s) · max 0.39%

Detection

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

Prioritize edge telemetry for the network-reachable component (proxy, WAF, IDS/IPS).

web/proxy/WAF logsnetwork IDS/IPS

Timeline

What happened to this CVE, newest first.

2026
Affected products added · tektoncd/pipeline
Oct 13, 2026 · CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP
SSVC assessment updated
Oct 13, 2026 · CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP
Record published
Oct 13, 2026
Fix documented
Oct 13, 2026 · NIST National Vulnerability Database
CVSS changed · 6.5
Oct 13, 2026 · NIST National Vulnerability Database
Source status changed · → Modified
Oct 13, 2026 · NIST National Vulnerability Database
Record created in this database
Oct 13, 2026 · NIST National Vulnerability Database
CVE published
Apr 21, 2026 · GitHub_M

Source activity

Repeated readings are counted rather than listed.

1× Official description updated · Oct 13, 2026 – Oct 13, 2026

References

2 on the record

github.com/tektoncd/pipeline/security/advisories/GHSA-rmx9-2pp3-xhcr
Exploit, Vendor Advisory, x_refsource_CONFIRM, NIST National Vulnerability Database
github.com/tektoncd/pipeline/commit/b8905600322aa86327baae0a7c04d6cf1207362a
Patch, x_refsource_MISC, NIST National Vulnerability Database

Elsewhere on this site

Linuxfoundation
every CVE for this vendor

CWE-185
other pages naming this weakness

Related CVEs (same products)

High CVE-2026-40938 Tekton Pipelines: Git Resolver Unsanitized Revision Parameter Enables git Argument Injection Leading to RCE Apr 21, 2026
Medium CVE-2026-40923 Tekton Pipelines: VolumeMount path restriction bypass via missing filepath.Clean in /tekton/ check Apr 21, 2026
Medium CVE-2026-40924 Tekton Pipelines: HTTP Resolver Unbounded Response Body Read Enables Denial of Service via Memory Exhaustion Apr 21, 2026
Medium CVE-2026-40161 Tekton Pipelines: Git resolver API mode leaks system-configured API token to user-controlled serverURL Apr 21, 2026
Critical CVE-2026-33211 Tekton Pipelines git resolver has path traversal that allows reading arbitrary files from the resolver pod Mar 23, 2026
Medium CVE-2026-33022 Tekton Pipelines: Controller can panic when setting long resolver names in TaskRun/PipelineRun Mar 20, 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 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-2026-25542 is "Tekton Pipelines: VerificationPolicy regex pattern bypass via substring matching", rated Medium. It affects Tekton Pipelines (Linuxfoundation); versions are in the scope table. It is not in CISA KEV, which does not rule out exploitation. CVSS 6.5 describes technical severity. EPSS 0.39% 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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