CVE-2026-53719
Description
A flaw was found in Envoy Gateway. A low-privileged user, specifically a namespace-scoped tenant, can trigger a nil-dereference by creating a SecurityPolicy that targets a TCPRoute and omits the authorization specification. This issue causes the controller to stall, preventing new configuration updates from being published until an administrator manually intervenes. While existing data plane configurations continue to operate, this effectively results in a denial of service for new deployments or changes.
Statement
This vulnerability is rated as Moderate severity because exploitation requires an authenticated user with permissions to create custom resources, and the impact is confined to control plane synchronization rather than disrupting active data plane traffic. In Red Hat Connectivity Link, the gateway controller encounters an unhandled exception when evaluating a SecurityPolicy attached to a TCPRoute that lacks an authorization block, halting subsequent configuration distribution across the cluster. Existing network connections and listener proxies continue operating normally with their current configuration until an administrator deletes the problematic object to restore reconciliation.
Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Score Details
Info alert:Important note
CVSS scores for open source components depend on vendor-specific factors (e.g. version or build chain). Therefore, Red Hat's score and impact rating can be different from NVD and other vendors. Red Hat remains the authoritative CVE Naming Authority (CNA) source for its products and services (see Red Hat classifications).
The following CVSS metrics and score provided are preliminary and subject to review.
CVSS v3 Score Breakdown
| Red Hat | NVD | cve.org | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base Score | 6.5 | N/A | 6.5 |
| Attack Vector | Network | N/A | Network |
| Attack Complexity | Low | N/A | Low |
| Privileges Required | Low | N/A | Low |
| User Interaction | None | N/A | None |
| Scope | Unchanged | N/A | Unchanged |
| Confidentiality | None | N/A | None |
| Integrity Impact | None | N/A | None |
| Availability Impact | High | N/A | High |
Vector
Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
cve.org: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Understanding the Weakness (CWE)
Availability
Technical Impact: DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart
NULL pointer dereferences usually result in the failure of the process unless exception handling (on some platforms) is available and implemented. Even when exception handling is being used, it can still be very difficult to return the software to a safe state of operation.
Integrity,Confidentiality
Technical Impact: Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands; Read Memory; Modify Memory
In rare circumstances, when NULL is equivalent to the 0x0 memory address and privileged code can access it, then writing or reading memory is possible, which may lead to code execution.
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