CVE-2026-88984
Description
A flaw was found in Kubeflow Pipelines. In multi-user deployments, the API server fails to properly enforce authorization checks on shared or global pipelines that use an empty namespace. An authenticated user can exploit this flaw to modify or delete shared pipeline definitions and versions without the required role-based access control (RBAC) permissions. This unauthorized access directly impacts the integrity and availability of shared machine learning workflows across the deployment.
Statement
This vulnerability is rated as Important because any authenticated user in a multi-tenant environment can bypass access controls to alter or destroy shared pipeline definitions, causing broad integrity and availability impacts across projects. In Red Hat OpenShift AI deployments providing shared Kubeflow Pipelines, the API server fails to enforce authorization checks on global pipeline resources that lack a namespace designation. Consequently, low-privileged users can modify or remove workflows relied upon by other teams without requiring cluster administrator privileges.
Mitigation
Mitigation for this issue is either not available or the currently available options do not meet the Red Hat Product Security criteria comprising ease of use and deployment, applicability to widespread installation base, or stability.
--- CME Mitigation Guidance (2026-11-06) ---
Disclaimer: The following mitigation solutions are provided as a courtesy, pending the application of an official patch. This content was generated utilizing AI tools in conjunction with data from https://cmetaxonomy.org. Customers are advised to independently evaluate and test these temporary mitigations within their own infrastructure.
The highest-value action is to enforce RBAC authorization checks and SubjectAccessReview on write, modification, and deletion operations for empty-namespace shared pipelines in the Kubeflow Pipelines API server: upgrade to Kubeflow Pipelines 2.16.1 (or the corresponding fixed Red Hat builds), which restrict empty namespace authorization bypass to read verbs and enforce SubjectAccessReview against the system pod namespace for write operations, closing all 3 injection vectors (unauthorized shared pipeline modification, unauthorized shared pipeline deletion, unauthorized shared pipeline creation). Until patched, this is only a concern on Multi-user Kubeflow Pipelines deployments with API server access — Single-user deployments are unaffected — so Restrict network access to the Kubeflow Pipelines API server to trusted users via deployment-level controls and audit changes to shared pipeline definitions. As a compensating measure, Continuously validate runtime pipeline configurations against a declared baseline using drift detection to detect unauthorized modifications or deletions. These controls limit blast radius and contain exploitation, but they do not fix the underlying authorization bypass defect — apply the upstream patch to fully remediate.
Highest-impact CME: CME-907 Application-Layer RBAC Enforcement (high)
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 | 8.1 | N/A | N/A |
| Attack Vector | Network | N/A | N/A |
| Attack Complexity | Low | N/A | N/A |
| Privileges Required | Low | N/A | N/A |
| User Interaction | None | N/A | N/A |
| Scope | Unchanged | N/A | N/A |
| Confidentiality | None | N/A | N/A |
| Integrity Impact | High | N/A | N/A |
| Availability Impact | High | N/A | N/A |
Vector
Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H
Understanding the Weakness (CWE)
Confidentiality,Integrity
Technical Impact: Read Application Data; Modify Application Data
Frequently Asked Questions
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