CVE-2026-88984
Kubeflow Pipelines: RBAC bypass on shared pipelines allows any authenticated user to delete or modify global pipelines
What happened?
Kubeflow Pipelines enables users to build and deploy portable, scalable machine learning workflows. Prior to 2.16.1, the multi-user API server treats the empty namespace used by shared or global pipelines as an authorization exception for modification and deletion operations. An authenticated user can modify or delete shared pipeline definitions and versions without the required Kubernetes RBAC permissions, compromising their integrity and availability. Read-only access to shared pipelines remains intentional, single-user deployments intentionally bypass multi-user checks, and execution of a modified pipeline is a conditional downstream consequence. The separate shared-pipeline multipart upload authorization path is outside this advisory and is not remediated by version 2.16.1. This issue is fixed in version 2.16.1.
Affected software and versions
| Software | Version information | Fixed version |
|---|---|---|
| pipelineskubeflow | affected: < 2.16.1 | See vendor advisory |
Version information comes from the source record and can include unaffected products and exceptions. Distribution packages may contain backported fixes: an older upstream version alone does not prove a server is affected.
Is it being exploited?
This CVE was not listed in the CISA catalogue at our last retrieval. This does not establish that exploitation is absent.
How to respond
- Confirm the product, installed package version, and any configuration requirements in the vendor advisory.
- Follow the vendor’s remediation or workaround guidance in the references below. Structured fixed-version data is unavailable here; the publisher’s description may include a fix or workaround.
- Restart affected services if required, then verify the running version. Known exploitation may warrant investigation as well as patching.
Sources and remediation references
- https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-88984
- https://github.com/kubeflow/pipelines/security/advisories/GHSA-ghgh-57qv-h687
- https://github.com/kubeflow/pipelines/pull/13288
- https://github.com/kubeflow/pipelines/commit/186dd1f3b0403af841c9b4ea7ab94f405339ef6c
- https://github.com/kubeflow/pipelines/releases/tag/2.16.1