Cyber Resilience

CVE-2026-72526

Published
12 August 2026
Modified
14 August 2026
CVSS Score v3.1 9.9
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0030 22th percentile
Risk Priority 67 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2026-72526 is a critical-severity Confused Deputy (CWE-441) vulnerability. Its CVSS base score is 9.9 (Critical).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Proxy (T1090); ranked at the 22th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to AC-16 (Security and Privacy Attributes) and AC-4 (Information Flow Enforcement) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

A01:2025 Broken Access Control

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

A flaw was found in the multicloud-integrations component. The Application propagation controller processes the `ocm-managed-cluster` annotation from an Application Custom Resource (CR) without proper validation. A tenant with permissions to create Applications on the hub cluster can exploit this to…

more

target arbitrary managed clusters. This can force ArgoCD on the spoke clusters to synchronize attacker-controlled manifests, leading to arbitrary code execution or privilege escalation on those clusters.

CWE(s)
CWE-441

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1090 Proxy Command And Control
Adversaries may use a connection proxy to direct network traffic between systems or act as an intermediary for network communications to a command and control server to avoid direct connections to their infrastructure.
attack.mitre.org →
T1090.002 External Proxy Command And Control
Adversaries may use an external proxy to act as an intermediary for network communications to a command and control server to avoid direct connections to their infrastructure.
attack.mitre.org →
T1090.001 Internal Proxy Command And Control
Adversaries may use an internal proxy to direct command and control traffic between two or more systems in a compromised environment.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2025-64123Shared CWE-441
CVE-2025-48710Shared CWE-441
CVE-2026-45003Shared CWE-441
CVE-2025-22441Shared CWE-441
CVE-2026-44992Shared CWE-441
CVE-2025-47269Shared CWE-441
CVE-2023-31313Shared CWE-441
CVE-2026-0013Shared CWE-441
CVE-2026-36608Shared CWE-441
CVE-2025-25061Shared CWE-441

Affected Assets

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

—

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

—

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V3.2.1
  • V3.5.1
  • V3.5.3
  • V3.5.8

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

AC-16 Security and Privacy Attributes good match

Associating and preserving security attributes such as original source identity prevents the loss of provenance that creates the confused deputy.

AC-4 Information Flow Enforcement good match

Information flow enforcement requires preserving and checking source attributes before forwarding requests outside the trust boundary.

AC-3 Access Enforcement partial match

Access enforcement directly stops a component from acting on forwarded requests without verifying original source authorizations.

SC-7 Boundary Protection partial match

Boundary protection limits and inspects external forwarding, reducing the ability of an intermediary to act as an unintended proxy.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.AA-04 mostly match
prevents

Proper conveyance and verification of original identity assertions directly prevents loss of request source when forwarding.

PR.AA-05 partial match
prevents

Enforcing least-privilege authorizations on forwarded requests reduces confused-deputy abuse even if source identity is lost.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

A.5.15 Access control partial match
prevents

Access-control rules can limit which upstream identities may cause the product to act on their behalf, reducing confused-deputy risk.

A.5.16 Identity management partial match
prevents

Proper identity management ensures the original requester identity is preserved and validated before the product forwards requests.

A.5.18 Access rights partial match
degrades

Explicit access-rights assignment can restrict the product’s ability to act as an unintended proxy for external actors.

A.8.2 Privileged access rights partial match
degrades

Privileged-access controls limit the rights the product may exercise on behalf of upstream callers, mitigating confused-deputy abuse.

A.8.20 Networks security partial match
degrades

Network-security controls can enforce source validation and prevent the product from blindly proxying traffic to external actors.

A.8.25 Secure development life cycle partial match
prevents

Secure-SDLC practices include design reviews that detect and eliminate confused-deputy proxy patterns before deployment.

References