What is the CVSS score of CVE-2026-9165?

CVE-2026-9165 has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 7.7 (High). CVSS vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H. EPSS exploitation probability: 0.3%.

Which versions of RHACS Central are affected by CVE-2026-9165?

Red Hat Advanced Cluster Security for Kubernetes (RHACS) 4 can be disabled by any user holding API credentials, preventing security teams from monitoring container deployments and enforcing access…. A patch is available.

How to fix or mitigate CVE-2026-9165?

Within 24 hours: audit all issued API tokens, revoke unnecessary credentials, and restrict token creation to essential service accounts only; enable GraphQL API query logging and monitoring. Within 7 days: implement network segmentation to limit GraphQL API access and configure query depth limits or timeout thresholds at the API gateway; establish alerting for abnormal query patterns. Within 30 days: monitor Red Hat security advisories and prepare upgrade procedures; evaluate temporary isolation of high-risk RHACS deployments and document Central recovery procedures for rapid incident response.

RHACS Central CVE-2026-9165

EUVD-2026-41859 HIGH

Uncontrolled Resource Consumption (CWE-400)

2026-07-06 redhat

GHSA-fw53-q2vg-jr6g

Kubernetes Red Hat Denial Of Service Red Hat Advanced Cluster Security 4

7.7

CVSS 3.1 · Vendor: redhat

Severity by source

Vendor (redhat) PRIMARY

7.7 HIGH

AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H

vuln.today AI

6.5 MEDIUM

Network-reachable GraphQL API with low complexity and a required API token gives AV:N/AC:L/PR:L; availability-only impact confined to Central yields A:H and S:U (I judge scope unchanged, unlike vendor S:C).

3.1 AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

4.0 AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

Red Hat

7.7 HIGH

qualitative

Primary rating from Vendor (redhat).

CVSS VectorVendor: redhat

Attack Vector

Network

Attack Complexity

Low

Privileges Required

Low

User Interaction

None

Scope

Changed

Confidentiality

None

Integrity

None

Availability

High

Lifecycle Timeline

Analysis Generated

Jul 06, 2026 - 09:21 vuln.today

DescriptionCVE.org

A flaw was found in Red Hat Advanced Cluster Security for Kubernetes (RHACS). Central does not limit the depth of GraphQL queries served on the authenticated GraphQL API. An authenticated user with a valid API token can send deeply nested queries that cause excessive resource consumption in Central, resulting in a denial of service for the management plane.

AnalysisAI

Authenticated denial of service in Red Hat Advanced Cluster Security for Kubernetes (RHACS) 4 allows any user holding a valid API token to exhaust Central's resources. Because Central does not cap the nesting depth of queries served on its authenticated GraphQL API, a single deeply nested query can drive excessive CPU and memory consumption and take down the RHACS management plane. No public exploit identified at time of analysis, and the flaw is not listed in CISA KEV, but the low-privilege network vector makes it trivial for any token holder to trigger.

Technical ContextAI

RHACS Central is the centralized management and policy engine of Red Hat's Kubernetes-native security platform, exposing a GraphQL API for its web UI and automation clients. GraphQL lets clients compose arbitrarily nested queries, and without a server-enforced maximum query depth (or complexity/cost limit) a small request can expand into an enormous resolver tree. This maps to CWE-400 (Uncontrolled Resource Consumption): the root cause is the absence of a depth/complexity guard on the query parser and resolver pipeline, so attacker-controlled query structure directly governs server-side work. The affected component per CPE is cpe:2.3:a:red_hat:red_hat_advanced_cluster_security_4, i.e. the RHACS 4.x product line.

RemediationAI

No vendor-released patch version is specified in the available data, so consult the Red Hat advisory at https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-9165 for the fixed RHACS 4.x release and upgrade Central to it once published. As compensating controls until patched, tightly restrict who holds valid Central API tokens and rotate or revoke unused tokens to shrink the pool of potential abusers, and place the Central GraphQL/API endpoint behind network policy or an ingress/API gateway that limits exposure to trusted management networks only (trade-off: may disrupt legitimate automation clients that reach Central directly). Where an upstream proxy supports it, apply request rate limiting and body/complexity limits to the GraphQL endpoint to blunt abusive nested queries, accepting that a proxy cannot enforce true GraphQL depth limits and may throttle legitimate large queries. Track the Bugzilla record at https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2480505 for the fixed-version announcement.