Misconfigured Kubernetes Controller Could Let Low-Privilege Users Seize Entire GCP Org

A security researcher at Varonis found that Google Kubernetes Config Connector (KCC) can be abused as a confused deputy, allowing a user with limited Kubernetes permissions to escalate to organization-wide control in Google Cloud. The flaw stems from the broad authority often granted to the KCC service account, which manages resources across projects and folders. By crafting a single YAML file, an attacker could potentially take over the entire GCP organization.

The vulnerability, dubbed ConfigConfusion, was identified by researcher Justin O'Leary and centers on how KCC authenticates every operation through a single Google service account. That account frequently carries organization-level roles like owner or organization admin because it must manage resources spanning multiple projects and folders. Any Kubernetes user who can submit an IAMPolicyMember resource within a watched namespace can effectively borrow those elevated credentials.

This design trades one security problem for another. While GitOps eliminates the credential sprawl of distributed service account keys, it concentrates authority into one shared identity. A single malicious YAML file submitted by a low-privilege user could grant themselves or a compromised account organization-wide control, bypassing Google Cloud's native permission boundaries entirely.