Cilium
CVE-2025-23028
MEDIUM
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A06:2025 - Insecure Design
ASVS 5.0
V2 - Validation and Business Logic Resource allocation limits
MITRE ATT&CK
1 technique across 1 tactic: Impact The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up. |
| Impact | CVSS score of 5.3 (MEDIUM). Attack characteristics: network attack vector, low complexity, no privileges required, no user interaction not required. EPSS exploitation probability: 0.07%. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | A remote attacker could exhaust system resources through uncontrolled allocation by sending crafted requests to the affected application. No authentication is required to exploit this vulnerability. |
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Alert meAnalysisAIv1 – Mar 28, 2026
Cilium is a networking, observability, and security solution with an eBPF-based dataplane. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.3), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. This Allocation of Resources Without Limits vulnerability could allow attackers to exhaust system resources through uncontrolled allocation.
RemediationAI
A vendor patch is available. Apply the latest security update as soon as possible. Set resource limits, implement rate limiting, validate input sizes.
Affected Packages
Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)
Affects your stack
Affects 1 package in go
Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.
Technical ContextAI · show details
This vulnerability is classified as Allocation of Resources Without Limits (CWE-770), which allows attackers to exhaust system resources through uncontrolled allocation. Cilium is a networking, observability, and security solution with an eBPF-based dataplane. A denial of service vulnerability affects versions 1.14.0 through 1.14.7, 1.15.0 through 1.15.11, and 1.16.0 through 1.16.4. In a Kubernetes cluster where Cilium is configured to proxy DNS traffic, an attacker can crash Cilium agents by sending a crafted DNS response to workloads from outside the cluster. For traffic that is allowed but without using DNS-based policy, the dataplane will continue to pass traffic as configured at the time of the DoS. For workloads that have DNS-based policy configured, existing connections may continue to operate, and new connections made without relying on DNS resolution may continue to be established, but new connections which rely on DNS resolution may be disrupted. Any configuration changes that affect the impacted agent may not be applied until the agent is able to restart. This issue is fixed in Cilium v1.14.18, v1.15.12, and v1.16.5. No known workarounds are available. Affected products include: Cilium. Version information: through 1.14.7.
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Severity by source
AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
Primary rating from GitHub Advisory.
CVSS VectorGitHub Advisory
Lifecycle Timeline
2DescriptionGitHub Advisory
Cilium is a networking, observability, and security solution with an eBPF-based dataplane. A denial of service vulnerability affects versions 1.14.0 through 1.14.7, 1.15.0 through 1.15.11, and 1.16.0 through 1.16.4. In a Kubernetes cluster where Cilium is configured to proxy DNS traffic, an attacker can crash Cilium agents by sending a crafted DNS response to workloads from outside the cluster. For traffic that is allowed but without using DNS-based policy, the dataplane will continue to pass traffic as configured at the time of the DoS. For workloads that have DNS-based policy configured, existing connections may continue to operate, and new connections made without relying on DNS resolution may continue to be established, but new connections which rely on DNS resolution may be disrupted. Any configuration changes that affect the impacted agent may not be applied until the agent is able to restart. This issue is fixed in Cilium v1.14.18, v1.15.12, and v1.16.5. No known workarounds are available.
Executive ViewAI
Organizations using Cilium should be aware of moderate risk from CVE-2025-23028 rated CVSS 5.3. Exploitation could compromise the security of affected deployments. A patch is available and should be applied during regular vulnerability management.
Apply vendor patch. If patching is delayed: restrict network access and enable monitoring.
Threat Intelligence Overview
How this decision was reached
The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.
What every action level means
SSVC AssessmentENISA
Priority Score
Attack Technique
Denial of Service attacks render applications or systems unavailable by overwhelming resources or triggering failure conditions.
Affected Products (CPE)GitHub Advisory
Cilium is a networking, observability, and security solution with an eBPF-based dataplane. Rated critical severity (CVSS
Cilium is a networking, observability, and security solution with an eBPF-based dataplane. Rated critical severity (CVSS
Cross-namespace authorization bypass in Cilium's Gateway API implementation (versions prior to 1.17.17, 1.18.11, and 1.1
Cilium is a networking, observability, and security solution with an eBPF-based dataplane. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.7
Cilium is open source software for providing and securing network connectivity and loadbalancing between application wor
Cilium is open source software for providing and securing network connectivity and loadbalancing between application wor
Cilium is a networking, observability, and security solution with an eBPF-based dataplane. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.1
Cilium is a networking, observability, and security solution with an eBPF-based dataplane. Rated low severity (CVSS 3.5)
Cilium is a networking, observability, and security solution with an eBPF-based dataplane. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.3
Cilium is a networking, observability, and security solution with an eBPF-based dataplane. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.2
Cilium is a networking, observability, and security solution with an eBPF-based dataplane. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.2
Cilium is a networking, observability, and security solution with an eBPF-based dataplane. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6
Same technique Denial Of Service
View allVendor StatusVendor
SUSE
Severity: Medium| Product | Status |
|---|---|
| Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/baremetal-os-container:latest Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/base-os-container:latest Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/kvm-os-container:latest Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/rt-os-container:latest Container suse/sl-micro/6.0/toolbox:latest | Affected |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 16.0 | Fixed |
| openSUSE Tumbleweed | Fixed |
GitHub PoC
Exploit-DB