CVE-2026-23881

Kyverno Denial of Service via Context Variable Amplification in Policy Engine

Published Jan 27, 2026 CVSS 3.1 · 7.7 High EPSS < 1% KEV · Not listed
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.

Remediation

No solution or workaround provided in the CVE record

Tracking

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Advisories

Source ID Title
Github GHSA Github GHSA GHSA-r2rj-wwm5-x6mq Kyverno Denial of Service via Context Variable Amplification in Policy Engine
History
Type Values Removed Values Added
CPEs cpe:2.3:a:kyverno:kyverno:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Kyverno
Kyverno kyverno
Vendors & Products Kyverno
Kyverno kyverno
Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'no', 'Exploitation': 'poc', 'Technical Impact': 'partial'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}

Type Values Removed Values 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.
Title Kyverno Denial of Service via Context Variable Amplification in Policy Engine
Weaknesses CWE-770
References
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 7.7, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H'}

Weaknesses

Sources

Status
PUBLISHED
Assigner
GitHub_M
Published
Updated
Jan 27, 2026, 4:33 PM
Reserved
Jan 16, 2026, 9:02 PM
Status
Analyzed
Published
Jan 27, 2026, 5:16 PM
Modified
Jun 17, 2026, 10:22 AM