CVE-2026-105986: Kong Gateway Enterprise (high)

Summary

Kong Gateway Enterprise's Admin API role-based access control has an incorrect authorization flaw that can be reached over the network by a user who holds low-privilege login credentials, with no user action needed. A delegated administrator can exploit it, using a percent-encoded role name or a self-assigned role, to gain higher privileges.

Written by anthropic/claude-haiku-5.5 from the sources below. Verify against them.

Read the original description

Incorrect authorization in the Admin API RBAC of Kong Gateway Enterprise allows a delegated administrator to elevate privileges via a percent-encoded role name or a self-assigned role.

cve.now Index

12Pcve.now Index 12 of 100 · methodology v3 · provisional

Exploitation?/40Unknown. No CISA SSVC exploitation rating yet
Exposure3/25Reachable over the network · Unknown: No advisory context yet
Reach?/20Unknown. No tracked technology or package matched
Severity8.7/10CVSS 8.7
No patch0/5No signal

What would change the score

Would score about 67 if added to CISA KEV
Would score about 62 if CISA's SSVC rates exploitation active
Would score about 31 if advisories confirm default setups are exposed

How the score works · Rankings

What to do

Upgrade to a fixed version: Kong Gateway Enterprise 3.10.0.20, 3.13.0.12, 3.14.0.17, 3.15.0.7, 3.16.0.2 · Kong AI Gateway 2.2.1.

Check your systems with an agent

Paste this into a coding or ops agent. It checks your systems read-only and reports a table per asset.

Check whether my systems are affected by CVE-2026-105986 (Incorrect authorization in the Admin API RBAC of Kong Gateway Enterprise allows a delegated administrator to elevate privileges via a…), using the cve.now data below.

Rules: work read-only. Do not run exploit code, proof-of-concept scripts or scanners that send attack payloads, and do not change any configuration, package, image or deployment. Report findings only.

What cve.now has for CVE-2026-105986 (entry last updated 2026-11-10):
Affected:
- Kong Inc. Kong Gateway Enterprise: from 3.10.0.0, fixed in 3.10.0.20; from 3.13.0.0, fixed in 3.13.0.12; from 3.14.0.0, fixed in 3.14.0.17; from 3.15.0.0, fixed in 3.15.0.7; from 3.16.0.0, fixed in 3.16.0.2
- Kong Inc. Kong AI Gateway: from 2.2.0, fixed in 2.2.1
Fixed versions: 3.10.0.20, 3.13.0.12, 3.14.0.17, 3.15.0.7, 3.16.0.2, 2.2.1.
Setup: unknown whether the bug needs a non-default feature or setting. Check the advisory.
CISA KEV: CVE-2026-105986 is not listed as of cve.now's last read.
This KEV status is for CVE-2026-105986 only. If you also check another CVE, look up its own KEV status; never assume it from this one.

How to check:
- Installed software: check what is actually running, not what a repo declares. Read the version from each host, container image and Kubernetes node (the binary's version output, the OS package database, image layers), and check whether the conditions above hold there. Distribution packages may carry a backported fix under an older version number; confirm against the distribution's own advisory.

Verify against the linked advisories before concluding, and cite the date you read each one:
- https://developer.konghq.com/gateway/changelog/
- https://developer.konghq.com/ai-gateway/changelog/
Do not conclude an asset is unaffected unless you checked it and the evidence covers both its version and the conditions above. If you could not check something, mark it unknown and say what is missing.

Entry: https://cve.now/CVE-2026-105986
For follow-up questions, use the cve.now MCP server at https://mcp.cve.now/mcp (no authentication), for example get_vulnerability with id CVE-2026-105986.

Timeline

Nov 10, 2026, 9:03 PM UTCCVE published
Nov 10, 2026, 9:06 PM UTCRecord last updated
Nov 10, 2026, 9:18 PM UTCFirst seen by cve.now

Affected versions

Kong Inc. Kong Gateway Enterprise
From 3.10.0.0 · fixed in 3.10.0.20; From 3.13.0.0 · fixed in 3.13.0.12; From 3.14.0.0 · fixed in 3.14.0.17; From 3.15.0.0 · fixed in 3.15.0.7; From 3.16.0.0 · fixed in 3.16.0.2
Kong Inc. Kong AI Gateway
From 2.2.0 · fixed in 2.2.1

Evidence 4

CVE record · 2

Establishes: The identifier and description.

Record
CVE List · CVE-2026-105986
Record
NVD · CVE-2026-105986

Corrections

None so far.

Something wrong on this page? Report an error. Every fix is listed here.

Questions about CVE-2026-105986

Is CVE-2026-105986 being exploited?

It is not in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, and CISA's SSVC assessment does not mark exploitation as active. That does not mean it has not been attacked: vendors and researchers can report attacks before CISA lists them. No public exploit code is tracked.Source: cve.now feed data

Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-105986?

Kong Gateway Enterprise: from 3.10.0.0 before 3.10.0.20; from 3.13.0.0 before 3.13.0.12; from 3.14.0.0 before 3.14.0.17; from 3.15.0.0 before 3.15.0.7; from 3.16.0.0 before 3.16.0.2. Kong AI Gateway: from 2.2.0 before 2.2.1.Source: cve.now feed data

How do I fix CVE-2026-105986?

Upgrade to a fixed version: Kong Gateway Enterprise 3.10.0.20, 3.13.0.12, 3.14.0.17, 3.15.0.7, 3.16.0.2 · Kong AI Gateway 2.2.1.Source: cve.now feed data

Incorrect authorization in the Admin API RBAC of Kong Gateway Enterprise allows a delegated administrator to elevate privileges via a…