{"schema_version":"1.9.0","id":"CVE-2026-23881","published":"2026-01-27T16:10:44.376Z","modified":"2026-08-12T03:51:32.226799863Z","aliases":["BIT-kyverno-2026-23881","GHSA-r2rj-wwm5-x6mq","GO-2026-4382"],"related":["CGA-6f7x-65fp-w8x5","SUSE-SU-2026:0403-1","openSUSE-SU-2026:21483-1"],"summary":"Kyverno Denial of Service via Context Variable Amplification in Policy Engine","details":"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":[{"ranges":[{"type":"GIT","repo":"https://github.com/kyverno/kyverno","events":[{"introduced":"0"},{"fixed":"13ba08e97c90c058184db9204754b900aeaf084e"},{"introduced":"18f9549cb2af30ec0537cd97f3200228d9f42d4b"},{"fixed":"188151e6b60b192aabcbc24943c3159e5cfab5da"},{"fixed":"7a651be3a8c78dcabfbf4178b8d89026bf3b850f"},{"fixed":"f5617f60920568a301740485472bf704892175b7"}],"database_specific":{"cpe":"cpe:2.3:a:kyverno:kyverno:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*","extracted_events":[{"introduced":"0"},{"fixed":"1.15.3"},{"introduced":"1.16.0"},{"fixed":"1.16.3"}],"source":["CPE_RANGE","REFERENCES"]}}],"versions":["v1.15.3-rc.1","kyverno-policies-chart-3.5.3-rc.1","kyverno-chart-3.5.3-rc.1","v1.16.3-rc.1","kyverno-policies-chart-3.6.3-rc.1","kyverno-chart-3.6.3-rc.1","v1.15.20","v1.16.2","kyverno-policies-chart-3.6.2","kyverno-chart-3.6.2","v1.16.2-rc.1","kyverno-policies-chart-3.6.2-rc.1","kyverno-chart-3.6.2-rc.1","v1.16.1","kyverno-policies-chart-3.6.1","kyverno-chart-3.6.1","v1.16.1-rc.2","kyverno-policies-chart-3.6.1-rc.2","kyverno-chart-3.6.1-rc.2","v1.16.1-rc.1","kyverno-policies-chart-3.6.1-rc.1","kyverno-chart-3.6.1-rc.1","v1.16.0","kyverno-policies-chart-3.6.0","kyverno-chart-3.6.0","v1.15.2","kyverno-policies-chart-3.5.2","kyverno-chart-3.5.2","v1.15.2-rc.1","kyverno-policies-chart-3.5.2-rc.1","kyverno-chart-3.5.2-rc.1","v1.15.1","kyverno-policies-chart-3.5.1","kyverno-chart-3.5.1","v1.15.1-rc.3","kyverno-policies-chart-3.5.1-rc.3","kyverno-chart-3.5.1-rc.3","v1.15.1-rc.2","kyverno-policies-chart-3.5.1-rc.2","kyverno-chart-3.5.1-rc.2","v1.15.1-rc.1","kyverno-policies-chart-3.5.1-rc.1","kyverno-chart-3.5.1-rc.1","kyverno-policies-chart-3.5.0","kyverno-chart-3.5.0","v1.15.0","v1.15.0-rc.4","kyverno-policies-chart-3.5.0-rc.4","kyverno-chart-3.5.0-rc.4","v1.15.0-rc.3","kyverno-policies-chart-3.5.0-rc.3","kyverno-chart-3.5.0-rc.3","v1.15.0-rc.2","kyverno-policies-chart-3.5.0-rc.2","kyverno-chart-3.5.0-rc.2","v1.15.0-rc.1","kyverno-policies-chart-3.5.0-rc.1","kyverno-chart-3.5.0-rc.1","1.9-dev","1.8-dev","1.7-dev","test-dev","1.6-dev","helm-chart-v2.1.3","v1.5.0-rc1","helm-chart-v2.1.0","v1.4.3","helm-chart-v2.0.3","v1.4.3-rc2","helm-chart-v2.0.3-rc2","v1.4.3-rc1","helm-chart-v2.0.3-rc1","v1.4.2","v1.4.2-rc4","v1.4.2-rc3","v1.4.2-rc2","v1.4.2-rc1","v1.4.1","v1.4.0-rc4","v1.4.0","v1.4.0-rc3","v1.4.0-rc2","v1.4.0-rc1","v1.3.6","v1.3.6-rc5","v1.3.6-rc4","v1.3.6-rc3","v1.3.6-rc2","v1.3.6-rc1","v1.3.5","v1.3.5-rc5","v1.3.5-rc4","v1.3.5-rc3","v1.3.5-rc2","v1.3.5-rc1","v1.3.4","v1.3.4-rc1","v1.3.3","v1.3.2","v1.3.2-rc3","v1.3.2-rc2","v1.3.2-rc1","v1.3.1","v1.3.0","v1.3.0-rc12","v1.3.0-rc11","v1.3.0-rc10","1.3.0-rc10","v1.3.0-rc9","v1.3.0-rc8","v1.3.0-rc7","v1.3.0-rc6","v1.3.0-rc5","v1.3.0-rc4","v1.3.0-rc3","v1.3.0-rc2","v1.3.0-rc1","v1.2.1","v1.2.0","v1.1.12","v1.1.11","v1.1.10","v1.1.9","v1.1.8","v1.1.7","v1.1.7-rc4","v1.1.7-rc3","v1.1.7-rc2","v1.1.7-rc1","v1.1.6","v1.1.6-rc5","v1.1.6-rc4","v1.1.6-rc3","v1.1.6-rc2","v1.1.6-rc1","v1.1.5","v1.1.4","v1.1.4-rc1","v1.1.3","v1.1.3-rc1","v1.1.2","v1.1.1","v1.0.0","v1.0.0-rc1","v0.11.0","v0.10.0","v0.9.1","v0.9.0","v0.8.0","v0.7.1","v0.7.0","v0.5.0","v0.4.0","v0.3.0","v0.2.0","v0.1.0"],"database_specific":{"source":"https://storage.googleapis.com/cve-osv-conversion/osv-output/CVE-2026-23881.json"}}],"references":[{"type":"ADVISORY","url":"https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2026/23xxx/CVE-2026-23881.json"},{"type":"ADVISORY","url":"https://github.com/kyverno/kyverno/security/advisories/GHSA-r2rj-wwm5-x6mq"},{"type":"ADVISORY","url":"https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-23881"},{"type":"FIX","url":"https://github.com/kyverno/kyverno/commit/7a651be3a8c78dcabfbf4178b8d89026bf3b850f"},{"type":"FIX","url":"https://github.com/kyverno/kyverno/commit/f5617f60920568a301740485472bf704892175b7"}],"database_specific":{"cna_assigner":"GitHub_M","cwe_ids":["CWE-770"],"osv_generated_from":"https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2026/23xxx/CVE-2026-23881.json"},"severity":[{"type":"CVSS_V3","score":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H"}]}