CVE-2026-49445: Cilium vulnerable to sensitive information disclosure and cluster disruption via local Envoy admin socket access

Should you act?

Critical, preconditions apply

Severe if exploited, but exploitation needs conditions that may not apply to you. This signal is computed from CISA KEV, EPSS and CVSS data; it is not an editorial verdict.

• No confirmed exploitation. It is not in CISA’s KEV catalog and CISA’s SSVC assessment records no known exploitation. That can change quickly after a public write-up; re-check if you are affected.
• EPSS 0.2%, percentile 5: FIRST’s model estimates a 0.2% chance of exploitation activity in the next 30 days, higher than 5% of all scored CVEs (low). EPSS is a probability, not a verdict.
• Needs local access needed. Lower urgency for most teams unless an attacker could already run code on the machine.
• Only applies if your dependency tree includes github.com/cilium/cilium (Go) >= 1.19.0, < 1.19.2, fixed in 1.19.2; github.com/cilium/cilium (Go) >= 1.18.0, < 1.18.8, fixed in 1.18.8; github.com/cilium/cilium (Go) < 1.17.14, fixed in 1.17.14. Check your lockfile, including transitive dependencies.

What it is

Cilium is a networking, observability, and security solution. Prior to 1.17.14, 1.18.8, and 1.19.2, when Cilium L7 functionality is enabled, the embedded or standalone Envoy instance creates a world-accessible admin.sock on cluster nodes, allowing a local attacker to access Envoy admin endpoints, expose TLS secrets, disrupt cluster traffic, or terminate Envoy. This issue is fixed in versions 1.17.14, 1.18.8, and 1.19.2.

From the GitHub advisory

Impact

When Cilium L7 functionality is enabled on a cluster, the Envoy instance supporting this functionality creates a world-accessible socket on cluster nodes. A local attacker would be able to access Envoy admin endpoints. Depending on deployment configuration, this can expose sensitive information or allow disruptive administrative operations, such as:

- Exposing TLS secrets - Disrupting traffic in the cluster - Terminating the Envoy process

This issue affects both the embedded and standalone Envoy deployment models.

Patches

Weakness type: CWE-732, CWE-862.

Product: github.com/cilium/cilium (Go) · Assigned by: GitHub_M · Published: 2026-07-15

Affected and fixed versions

Severity scores

• Attack vector: local access needed
• Attack complexity: low
• Privileges required: none (no login)
• User interaction: none
• Scope: changed (can affect other components)

CVSS measures how bad a flaw is if exploited, not how likely exploitation is. Read it next to the exploitation data below.

Exploitation and urgency

• CISA KEV: not listed (no confirmed in-the-wild exploitation known to CISA).
• CISA SSVC assessment: exploitation none, automatable no, technical impact partial.
• FIRST EPSS (model of 2026-10-21): 0.17% probability of exploitation activity in the next 30 days; percentile 5.

Timeline

• 2026-07-06 — GitHub-reviewed advisory GHSA-3fcv-jvfp-m4q9 published (critical)
• 2026-07-15 — CVE record published by GitHub_M
• 2026-07-16 — CVE record last updated

Sources and references

Original sources first. Version and fix details should always be confirmed against the vendor or project advisory.

Vulnerability records

1. GitHub Advisory GHSA-3fcv-jvfp-m4q9 github.com
2. CVE.org record CVE-2026-49445 cve.org
3. NVD entry CVE-2026-49445 nvd.nist.gov

Other references from the CVE record and advisory

1. github.com github.com
2. github.com github.com
3. github.com github.com
4. github.com github.com
5. github.com github.com
6. github.com github.com

Critical Go advisories · Today’s Security Digest