Vulnerability · Published Jan 27, 2026 · Assigned by GitHub_M
CVE-2026-23881Kyverno Denial of Service via Context Variable Amplification in Policy Engine
High 7.7
In plain English
A high-severity resource allocation without limits in kyverno from kyverno. Proof-of-concept exploit code is public. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 0.6% (higher than 50% of all known vulnerabilities). Fixed versions are available - upgrade the affected package.
Official 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.
Affected packages & fixed versions
| Ecosystem | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Go | github.com/kyverno/kyverno | 1.15.3 | GHSA-r2rj-wwm5-x6mq |
| Go | github.com/kyverno/kyverno | 1.16.3 | GHSA-r2rj-wwm5-x6mq |
| Go | github.com/kyverno/kyverno | 1.15.3, 1.16.3 | GO-2026-4382 |
Affected products (as reported)
Weakness: CWE-770 · Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H