mcp-server-kubernetes Affected By Tool Access Control Bypass: Presentation-Layer Filtering Without Execution-Layer Enforcement

CISA KEV is observed exploitation evidence. FIRST EPSS is a dated prediction of exploitation in the next 30 days. Missing scores are unknown. This collector requests predictions only for explicit CVE aliases in the public NuGet archive; Microsoft release views retain their existing prediction scope.

No collected risk observation for these identifiers. This does not establish absence of exploitation or a zero probability.

mcp-server-kubernetes is a Model Context Protocol server for Kubernetes cluster management. Prior to version 3.6.0, mcp-server-kubernetes exposes three environment variables (ALLOW_ONLY_READONLY_TOOLS, ALLOW_ONLY_NON_DESTRUCTIVE_TOOLS, ALLOWED_TOOLS) documented as access controls for restricting which Kubernetes operations are available. These controls are enforced at the tool discovery layer (tools/list) but not at the execution layer (tools/call). Any client that knows a tool name can invoke it directly regardless of the configured restriction mode. The access control was effectively cosmetic. This issue has been patched in version 3.6.0.

Source published

11 Jun 2026 18:34:15 UTC

Source modified

11 Jun 2026 19:40:22 UTC

Observed here

23 Oct 2026 15:48:27 UTC

Source terms

CVE Program Terms of Use

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This view projects the publisher's source fields for reading; the original JSON retains additional fields and CVE enrichment containers. Attribution: cve-program · CVE Program Terms of Use. Source text is retained; field grouping and change labels are provided by ChangeIntel.

CVSS 3.1 · 8.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

mcp-server-kubernetes is a Model Context Protocol server for Kubernetes cluster management. Prior to version 3.6.0, mcp-server-kubernetes exposes three environment variables (ALLOW_ONLY_READONLY_TOOLS, ALLOW_ONLY_NON_DESTRUCTIVE_TOOLS, ALLOWED_TOOLS) documented as access controls for restricting which Kubernetes operations are available. These controls are enforced at the tool discovery layer (tools/list) but not at the execution layer (tools/call). Any client that knows a tool name can invoke it directly regardless of the configured restriction mode. The access control was effectively cosmetic. This issue has been patched in version 3.6.0.

Source published

Jun 11, 2026, 6:34:15 PM (timezone not stated)

Source modified

Jun 11, 2026, 7:40:22 PM (timezone not stated)

Observed here

7 Nov 2026 10:38:11 UTC

Source terms

ENISA EUVD · source terms and attribution apply

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This view projects the publisher's source fields for reading; the original JSON retains additional fields and CVE enrichment containers. Attribution: euvd · ENISA EUVD · source terms and attribution apply. Source text is retained; field grouping and change labels are provided by ChangeIntel.

EUVD CVSS 3.1 · 8.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

mcp-server-kubernetes is a Model Context Protocol server for Kubernetes cluster management. Prior to version 3.6.0, mcp-server-kubernetes exposes three environment variables (ALLOW_ONLY_READONLY_TOOLS, ALLOW_ONLY_NON_DESTRUCTIVE_TOOLS, ALLOWED_TOOLS) documented as access controls for restricting which Kubernetes operations are available. These controls are enforced at the tool discovery layer (tools/list) but not at the execution layer (tools/call). Any client that knows a tool name can invoke it directly regardless of the configured restriction mode. The access control was effectively cosmetic. This issue has been patched in version 3.6.0.

Source published

11 Jun 2026 19:16:42 UTC

Source modified

26 Oct 2026 11:10:00 UTC

Observed here

27 Oct 2026 13:11:40 UTC

Source terms

NIST NVD usage terms; underlying source attribution retained

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This view projects the publisher's source fields for reading; the original JSON retains additional fields and CVE enrichment containers. Attribution: nvd · NIST NVD usage terms; underlying source attribution retained. Source text is retained; field grouping and change labels are provided by ChangeIntel.

CVSS 3.1 · [email protected] · Secondary · 8.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

## Summary `mcp-server-kubernetes` exposes three environment variables (`ALLOW_ONLY_READONLY_TOOLS`, `ALLOW_ONLY_NON_DESTRUCTIVE_TOOLS`, `ALLOWED_TOOLS`) documented as access controls for restricting which Kubernetes operations are available. These controls are enforced at the tool discovery layer (`tools/list`) but not at the execution layer (`tools/call`). Any client that knows a tool name can invoke it directly regardless of the configured restriction mode. The access control was effectively cosmetic. Fixed in v3.6.0. ## Impact An attacker or misconfigured AI agent with network access to the MCP server's HTTP endpoint could invoke any Kubernetes tool regardless of the restriction mode configured by the operator -- including `kubectl_delete`, `exec_in_pod`, `kubectl_generic`, and `node_management`. The project explicitly supports and documents multi-client HTTP deployment scenarios (Streamable HTTP and SSE transports, in-cluster deployments, Codex CLI and Gemini CLI integrations). In these deployments, operators relied on the tool restriction env vars to enforce least-privilege access across users or roles. The bypass invalidated that model entirely. Severity scales with the Kubernetes service account's permissions. In environments where the MCP server runs with `cluster-admin` (common in dev/staging), this is equivalent to full cluster compromise for any client that can reach the endpoint. The `MCP_AUTH_TOKEN` / `X-MCP-AUTH` mechanism controls who can reach the endpoint but provides no per-tool authorization. An authenticated client restricted to `ALLOWED_TOOLS=kubectl_get` could still invoke `kubectl_delete` after authentication. ## Root Cause In `src/index.ts`, the `ListToolsRequestSchema` handler applied the configured filtering logic before returning available tools. The `CallToolRequestSchema` handler dispatched directly by tool name with no equivalent check -- every tool was reachable unconditionally. ## Proof of Concept Tested across all three restriction modes against a live kind cluster. In each case, `kubectl_delete` was absent from `tools/list` but executed successfully via a direct `tools/call` request: ```shell curl -s http://<HOST>:3003/mcp \ -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \ -H 'Accept: application/json, text/event-stream' \ -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":2,"method":"tools/call","params":{"name":"kubectl_delete","arguments":{"resourceType":"pod","name":"test-pod","namespace":"default"}}}' ``` Result: `{"result":{"content":[{"type":"text","text":"pod \"test-pod\" deleted\n"}]}}` Confirmed across `ALLOW_ONLY_READONLY_TOOLS=true`, `ALLOW_ONLY_NON_DESTRUCTIVE_TOOLS=true`, and `ALLOWED_TOOLS=kubectl_get`. ## Remediation The fix applies the same filtering logic from `ListToolsRequestSchema` at the start of the `CallToolRequestSchema` handler, returning an error for any tool call outside the active allowed set. Fixed in v3.6.0. ## Credit Discovered by [Francisco Rosales](https://www.linkedin.com/in/francisco-rosales-celis/) of [Manifold Security](https://manifold.security), coordinated by [Ax Sharma](https://www.linkedin.com/in/axsharma/), Head of Research at Manifold Security.

Source published

21 May 2026 20:33:46 UTC

Source modified

12 Jun 2026 19:30:11 UTC

Observed here

24 Oct 2026 13:17:17 UTC

Source terms

GitHub Advisory Database · CC-BY-4.0

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This view projects the publisher's source fields for reading; the original JSON retains additional fields and CVE enrichment containers. Attribution: osv · GitHub Advisory Database · CC-BY-4.0. Source text is retained; field grouping and change labels are provided by ChangeIntel.

CVSS_V3 · CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Publisher rating · HIGH