Kyverno
CVE-2026-23881
HIGH
GHSA-r2rj-wwm5-x6mq
Attack ChainAIDerived
Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain
-
AccessAuthenticate to Kyverno cluster
-
ExploitCreate policy with exponential context variable expansion
-
ExecutionPolicy engine processes crafted policy
-
ImpactUnbounded memory consumption triggers DoS
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. |
| Exploitation Conditions | User account with policy creation privileges on Kyverno cluster. Kyverno versions prior to 1.16.3 and 1.15.3. Ability to submit custom policies via Kubernetes API. |
| Impact | CVSS 7.7 (HIGH). Attack vector: Network. Complexity: Low. Privileges required: Low. User interaction: None. Public exploit/POC available. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | An attacker could exploit this vulnerability to compromise the affected system. |
Get an e-mail when this CVE is exploited, patched or re-scored. Free account.
Alert meAnalysisAIv1 – Mar 12, 2026
Kyverno versions up to 1.16.3 is affected by allocation of resources without limits or throttling (CVSS 7.7).
RemediationAI
A vendor patch is available — apply it immediately. Restrict network access to the affected service where possible.
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 (CWE-770: Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling) affects Kyverno. Kyverno is a policy engine designed for cloud native platform engineering teams. Versions prior to 1.16.3 and 1.15.3 have unbounded memory consumption in Kyverno's policy engine that allows users with policy creation privileges to cause denial of service by crafting policies that exponentially amplify string data through context variables. Versions 1.16.3 and 1.15.3 contain a patch for the vulnerability.
Know when Kyverno gets its next vulnerability
- Watch products and get an email when something new is published
- Check this CVE against your own stack and servers
- Exploit and PoC references, threat intelligence from 22 sources
No credit card · 7-day full trial
Severity by source
AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H
Primary rating from GitHub Advisory.
CVSS VectorGitHub Advisory
Lifecycle Timeline
3DescriptionGitHub Advisory
Kyverno is a policy engine designed for cloud native platform engineering teams. Versions prior to 1.16.3 and 1.15.3 have unbounded memory consumption in Kyverno's policy engine that allows users with policy creation privileges to cause denial of service by crafting policies that exponentially amplify string data through context variables. Versions 1.16.3 and 1.15.3 contain a patch for the vulnerability.
Executive ViewAI
Kyverno policy engine versions up to 1.16.3 contain a resource exhaustion vulnerability that could allow attackers to disable cluster policy enforcement through denial-of-service, potentially exposing the organization to policy violations and unauthorized workload deployments. Organizations running affected versions require immediate patching to restore proper policy controls and prevent exploitation.
Apply vendor patch. If immediate patching is not feasible, implement rate limiting on API requests to Kyverno services, restrict network access to Kyverno components via network policies, and enable continuous monitoring of Kyverno CPU and memory utilization to detect DoS attempts.
Threat Intelligence Overview
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
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
Kyverno Kubernetes policy engine prior to 1.x has a privilege escalation vulnerability (CVSS 9.9) allowing policy bypass
Cross-namespace privilege escalation in Kyverno 1.18.0-1.18.1 lets any tenant who can create a NamespacedMutatingPolicy
Kyverno is a policy engine designed for Kubernetes. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.7), this vulnerability is remotely explo
Kyverno is a policy engine designed for cloud native platform engineering teams. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.5), this vu
Kyverno is a policy engine designed for cloud native platform engineering teams. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.8), this
Kyverno versions 1.16.0 and later contain a server-side request forgery vulnerability in unrestricted CEL HTTP functions
Privilege escalation in Kyverno before 1.19.1 allows an authenticated Kubernetes namespace tenant with Policy/apiCall au
Policy enforcement bypass in Kyverno v1.9.0 through v1.12.7 lets an authenticated Kubernetes user evade an enforce-mode
Kyverno is a policy engine designed for Kubernetes. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.8), this vulnerability is remotely explo
Cross-namespace information disclosure in Kyverno before 1.19.1 allows an authenticated low-privilege tenant to read res
Credential leakage in Kyverno's apiCall service mode automatically forwards the Kubernetes admission controller's Servic
Server-side request forgery in Kyverno's Kubernetes admission controller (all versions before 1.18.0) enables any authen
Same technique Denial Of Service
View allVendor StatusVendor
SUSE
Severity: High| Product | Status |
|---|---|
| openSUSE Leap 15.6 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Package Hub 15 SP5 | Fixed |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Package Hub 15 SP6 | Fixed |
| openSUSE Leap 15.5 | Fixed |
Exploit-DB