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7.7
HIGH CVSS 3.1
CVE-2026-23881
Kyverno Denial of Service via Context Variable Amplification in Policy Engine
Description

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.

INFO

Published Date :

Jan. 27, 2026, 5:16 p.m.

Last Modified :

Feb. 2, 2026, 3:20 p.m.

Remotely Exploit :

Yes !

Source :

[email protected]
Affected Products

The following products are affected by CVE-2026-23881 vulnerability. Even if cvefeed.io is aware of the exact versions of the products that are affected, the information is not represented in the table below.

ID Vendor Product Action
1 Kyverno kyverno
: Total Affected Vendor : 1 | Products : 1
CVSS Scores
The Common Vulnerability Scoring System is a standardized framework for assessing the severity of vulnerabilities in software and systems. We collect and displays CVSS scores from various sources for each CVE.
Score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Score Impact Score Source
CVSS 3.1 HIGH [email protected]
CVSS 3.1 MEDIUM [email protected]
Solution
Update Kyverno to a patched version to prevent unbounded memory consumption and denial of service.
  • Update Kyverno to version 1.16.3 or later.
  • Update Kyverno to version 1.15.3 or later.
  • Restrict policy creation privileges.
References to Advisories, Solutions, and Tools

Here, you will find a curated list of external links that provide in-depth information, practical solutions, and valuable tools related to CVE-2026-23881.

URL Resource
https://github.com/kyverno/kyverno/commit/7a651be3a8c78dcabfbf4178b8d89026bf3b850f Patch
https://github.com/kyverno/kyverno/commit/f5617f60920568a301740485472bf704892175b7 Patch
https://github.com/kyverno/kyverno/security/advisories/GHSA-r2rj-wwm5-x6mq Exploit Mitigation Vendor Advisory
CWE - Common Weakness Enumeration

While CVE identifies specific instances of vulnerabilities, CWE categorizes the common flaws or weaknesses that can lead to vulnerabilities. CVE-2026-23881 is associated with the following CWEs:

Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)

Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC) stores attack patterns, which are descriptions of the common attributes and approaches employed by adversaries to exploit the CVE-2026-23881 weaknesses.

CAPEC-125: Flooding Flooding CAPEC-130: Excessive Allocation Excessive Allocation CAPEC-147: XML Ping of the Death XML Ping of the Death CAPEC-197: Exponential Data Expansion Exponential Data Expansion CAPEC-229: Serialized Data Parameter Blowup Serialized Data Parameter Blowup CAPEC-230: Serialized Data with Nested Payloads Serialized Data with Nested Payloads CAPEC-231: Oversized Serialized Data Payloads Oversized Serialized Data Payloads CAPEC-469: HTTP DoS HTTP DoS CAPEC-482: TCP Flood TCP Flood CAPEC-486: UDP Flood UDP Flood CAPEC-487: ICMP Flood ICMP Flood CAPEC-488: HTTP Flood HTTP Flood CAPEC-489: SSL Flood SSL Flood CAPEC-490: Amplification Amplification CAPEC-491: Quadratic Data Expansion Quadratic Data Expansion CAPEC-493: SOAP Array Blowup SOAP Array Blowup CAPEC-494: TCP Fragmentation TCP Fragmentation CAPEC-495: UDP Fragmentation UDP Fragmentation CAPEC-496: ICMP Fragmentation ICMP Fragmentation CAPEC-528: XML Flood XML Flood

We scan GitHub repositories to detect new proof-of-concept exploits. Following list is a collection of public exploits and proof-of-concepts, which have been published on GitHub (sorted by the most recently updated).

Results are limited to the first 15 repositories due to potential performance issues.

The following list is the news that have been mention CVE-2026-23881 vulnerability anywhere in the article.

  • Daily CyberSecurity
Cluster Admin for All: Critical Kyverno Flaw (CVSS 10) Shatters Isolation

The maintainers of Kyverno, a popular Kubernetes-native policy engine, have released an urgent security update to address a critical vulnerability that shatters the platform’s isolation boundaries. Tr ... Read more

Published Date: Jan 30, 2026 (2 weeks, 4 days ago)

Results are limited to the first 20 news articles due to potential performance issues.

The following table lists the changes that have been made to the CVE-2026-23881 vulnerability over time.

Vulnerability history details can be useful for understanding the evolution of a vulnerability, and for identifying the most recent changes that may impact the vulnerability's severity, exploitability, or other characteristics.

  • Initial Analysis by [email protected]

    Feb. 02, 2026

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added CVSS V3.1 AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
    Added CPE Configuration OR *cpe:2.3:a:kyverno:kyverno:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* versions up to (excluding) 1.15.3 *cpe:2.3:a:kyverno:kyverno:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* versions from (including) 1.16.0 up to (excluding) 1.16.3
    Added Reference Type GitHub, Inc.: https://github.com/kyverno/kyverno/commit/7a651be3a8c78dcabfbf4178b8d89026bf3b850f Types: Patch
    Added Reference Type GitHub, Inc.: https://github.com/kyverno/kyverno/commit/f5617f60920568a301740485472bf704892175b7 Types: Patch
    Added Reference Type GitHub, Inc.: https://github.com/kyverno/kyverno/security/advisories/GHSA-r2rj-wwm5-x6mq Types: Exploit, Mitigation, Vendor Advisory
  • New CVE Received by [email protected]

    Jan. 27, 2026

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added Description 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.
    Added CVSS V3.1 AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H
    Added CWE CWE-770
    Added Reference https://github.com/kyverno/kyverno/commit/7a651be3a8c78dcabfbf4178b8d89026bf3b850f
    Added Reference https://github.com/kyverno/kyverno/commit/f5617f60920568a301740485472bf704892175b7
    Added Reference https://github.com/kyverno/kyverno/security/advisories/GHSA-r2rj-wwm5-x6mq
EPSS is a daily estimate of the probability of exploitation activity being observed over the next 30 days. Following chart shows the EPSS score history of the vulnerability.
Vulnerability Scoring Details
Base CVSS Score: 7.7
Attack Vector
Attack Complexity
Privileges Required
User Interaction
Scope
Confidentiality Impact
Integrity Impact
Availability Impact