CVE-2026-16242
Unauthenticated access to Konnectivity proxy allows intercepting/modifying control-plane traffic
Is CVE-2026-16242 being exploited?
Not confirmed. CVE-2026-16242 does not appear in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, which records only exploitation that has been observed and reported publicly. That is evidence of absence of a report, not evidence the flaw is unattacked. EPSS currently estimates a 0.80% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.
How severe is CVE-2026-16242?
CVE-2026-16242 is rated Critical with a CVSS score of 9.4. Severity describes how bad exploitation would be, not how likely it is: pair it with exploitation evidence before deciding what to patch first.
Is there a patch for CVE-2026-16242?
Yes. A fix has been recorded for CVE-2026-16242. The vendor advisory is the authority on the exact fixed version — apply it from there rather than from a summary.
What does CVE-2026-16242 affect?
CVE-2026-16242 affects Kubernetes Konnectivity proxy, Hosted control planes using Konnectivity, Managed K8s distributions using Konnectivity. Confirm the exact affected versions against the vendor advisory before deciding you are exposed.
What should I do about CVE-2026-16242?
Enable --cluster-ca-cert and token agent auth; restrict Konnectivity endpoint; apply vendor fixes when available
Exploitation status reflects CISA's KEV catalog as we last synced it. Check the catalog directly.
Remote unauthenticated attacker can join proxy pool to inspect, modify, or drop control-plane-to-node traffic, enabling cluster compromise or data exfiltration.
Immediate action required