Kyverno resource with a deletionTimestamp may allow policy circumvention

Exploitation

No confirmed exploitation recorded. Patch Next marks exploitation only from CISA KEV.

CVSS

6.5 · CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N

EPSS

• CVE-2023-34091: 0.50% estimated exploitation activity in the next 30 days; percentile 42.66 (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-03). This is a model estimate, not proof of exploitation or customer exposure.

As published by the source; long descriptions are shortened.

Impact In versions of Kyverno prior to 1.10.0, resources which have the deletionTimestamp field defined can bypass validate, generate, or mutate-existing policies, even in cases where the validationFailureAction field is set to Enforce. This situation occurs as resources pending deletion were being consciously exempted by Kyverno, as a way to reduce processing load as policies are typically not applied to objects which are being deleted. However, this could potentially result in allowing a malicious user to leverage the Kubernetes finalizers feature by setting a finalizer which causes the Kubernetes API server to set the deletionTimestamp and then not completing the delete operation as a way to explicitly to bypass a Kyverno policy. Note that this is not applicable to Kubernetes Pods but, as an example, a Kubernetes Service resource can be manipulated using an indefinite finalizer to bypass policies. Patches This is resolved in Kyverno 1.10.0. Workarounds There is no known…

Published by the source

5 Jun 2023, 17:10 UTC

Last modified by the source

11 Nov 2023, 05:00 UTC

Source last checked

26 Oct 2026, 15:00 UTC

1. Revision 1 · created · 26 Oct 2026

   Published from ghsa record GHSA-hq4m-4948-64cc

Preview the exact text before you copy it. Commands are read-only suggestions; review them before running anything.

# Patch Next advisory brief: CVE-2023-34091

Advisory: Kyverno resource with a deletionTimestamp may allow policy circumvention
IDs: CVE-2023-34091, GHSA-hq4m-4948-64cc
Record: https://patchnext.com/advisories/cve-2023-34091 (revision 1, source checked 26 Oct 2026, 15:00 UTC)
Inventory: none attached. This brief comes from a public page and does not say whether any deployment is affected.
Severity: Medium (CVSS 6.5)
Exploitation: no confirmed exploitation recorded. Patch Next confirms exploitation only from CISA KEV.
Vendor response: Vendor fix available; fixed versions by package: github.com/kyverno/kyverno 1.10.0. A vendor fix does not mean a deployment is fixed.

## Affected components
- Go github.com/kyverno/kyverno: affected < 1.10.0; fixed in 1.10.0

## Suggested inspection (read-only)
- Go github.com/kyverno/kyverno: check the installed version with your package manager.

## Supported action
Upgrade each affected component to a fixed version on its release line. For a transitive dependency, upgrade the parent package or add an override or constraint, then regenerate the lockfile. Redeploy every environment that ran an affected version.

## Required regression checks
- Run the test suite and a production build.
- Exercise the features that depend on github.com/kyverno/kyverno.
- Repeat the inspection and confirm that only fixed versions remain installed.

## Rollback considerations
- Keep the previous lockfile and deployment artifact. Rolling back reinstates the vulnerable version, so apply any documented mitigation while you fix forward.

## Unresolved questions
- Which deployments run an affected version?
- Exploitation status can change. Check again before lowering the priority.
- Mark the work resolved only after the fixed version is verified in production.

## Sources
- Verified: https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-hq4m-4948-64cc (GitHub-reviewed advisory GHSA-hq4m-4948-64cc lists affected ranges: Go github.com/kyverno/kyverno >=0 <1.10.0)

Commands are suggestions: review each one before running it.