Secuno
ENNL
Book demo

CVE-2026-23881

Kyverno denial of service

7.7 HIGHPublic exploitEPSS 0.60%
  1. Published27 Jan 2026

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.

CVSS 3.1 breakdown

Attack vectorNetwork
Attack complexityLow
Privileges requiredLow
User interactionNone
ScopeChanged
ConfidentialityNone
IntegrityNone
AvailabilityHigh
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H

Affected products

Kyverno≥ 1.16.0 < 1.16.3 · < 1.15.3

Remediation

Fixed in
Kyverno≥ 1.16.3

References

Related CVEs

Recent high-severity vulnerabilities sharing a weakness type.

CVE-2026-1031028.6
Pexip Infinity before 41.0 is affected by improper input validation in the signaling…
CVE-2026-1031018.6
Pexip Infinity 30.0 through 40.x before 41.0 is affected by improper input validation…
CVE-2026-824399.8
Description The DRPC server kept a map from function name to request queue and created…
CVE-2026-478919.8
A Spring WebFlux application that relies on the Aalto XML processor to parse XML input…
CVE-2026-735418.2
Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling in ZenHive mpp allows an…
CVE-2026-748789.8
openssl_encrypt versions before 1.4.0 use an in-memory rate limiter for TOTP…

Frequently asked

Is CVE-2026-23881 being actively exploited?

CVE-2026-23881 is not in the CISA KEV catalog. A public exploit reference exists, so treat it as exploitable. Its EPSS exploit probability is 0.60%.

How severe is CVE-2026-23881?

CVE-2026-23881 has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 7.7, rated high. EPSS estimates a 0.60% probability of exploitation.

Which products are affected by CVE-2026-23881?

Affected products include Kyverno.

How do I fix CVE-2026-23881?

Upgrade affected software to a fixed version, for example Kyverno 1.16.3 or later, then confirm no affected versions remain in your inventory.

How Secuno handles this

Secuno correlates vulnerabilities like CVE-2026-23881 against the real software inventory on every managed device, every day. Rather than a static severity, each match is scored in context: exploit availability, EPSS, the asset's exposure, and business criticality decide where it lands in the queue. If an affected version is present anywhere across your portfolio, it surfaces automatically with a prioritised remediation path.

See how prioritisation worksBook a demo

Get Patch this first every Monday

Five vulnerabilities that matter this week, ranked on real exploitation. Plain language, one email, no spam.

You can unsubscribe with one click from every issue. We handle your details as described in our privacy policy.

Data from the NVD, CISA KEV catalog and FIRST EPSS. CVSS 3.1 base score shown where available.