---
id: "CVE-2026-116472"
kind: "vulnerability"
aliases: ["CVE-2026-116472"]
title: "ingress-nginx: Ingress users can drop all cluster traffic via mirror annotation"
severity: "low"
cvss: 2.7
epss: null
exploited: false
status: "open"
category: "infrastructure"
products: []
ecosystems: []
tags: ["infrastructure", "ingress-nginx", "kubernetes"]
not_affected_if: ["ingress-creation-restricted-to-admins", "not-using-ingress-nginx"]
published_at: "2026-11-05T19:17:10+00:00"
first_seen_at: "2026-11-05T19:40:35+00:00"
updated_at: "2026-11-05T19:43:32+00:00"
sources: [{"source": "nvd", "url": "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-116472", "first_seen_at": "2026-11-05T19:40:35+00:00"}]
exploit_sources: []
---

# ingress-nginx: Ingress users can drop all cluster traffic via mirror annotation

A user allowed to create Ingress objects can abuse the mirror-target annotation to reach ingress-nginx's unauthenticated configuration API and submit write commands. Corrupting that data drops all traffic through the ingress controller until its configuration is regenerated or the controller restarts.

_Summary, check and fix written by a model from the sources; labelled as such._

## How to check

- Check whether the cluster runs ingress-nginx, for example with `kubectl get pods -A | grep ingress-nginx`
- Check the controller image version with `kubectl get deploy -A -o wide | grep ingress-nginx`
- Check whether users outside cluster admins can create Ingress objects, using `kubectl auth can-i create ingresses --as=<user>`

## Timeline

- 2026-11-05T19:40:35+00:00 nvd https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-116472

## Documents

- [advisory] Kubernetes CVE feed: CVSS Rating: **2.7** (LOW) [CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L](https: https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/issues/143852

## From the sources

A security issue was discovered in ingress-nginx where a user with permission to create an Ingress may be able to cause denial of service of the ingress-nginx data plane, or possibly redirect traffic from other Ingresses. Kubernetes clusters are only affected if they are using ingress-nginx.

Due to a missing check, the mirror-target Ingress annotation can be used to target an unauthenticated configuration API within the ingress-nginx controller, allowing write commands to be submitted. Corrupting the data within that configuration API results in all traffic through ingress-nginx being dropped until an Ingress configuration change or a controller restart causes the data to be recreated correctly.

In principle, this write access could also be used to redirect traffic from other Ingresses controlled by the same ingress-nginx instance. In practice, there is negligible additional risk: such redirection would require privileged information about internal ingress-nginx state, and users can already redirect traffic from other Ingresses controlled by the same ingress-nginx anyway.

---

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