Denial of service from malicious image manifest in kyverno
Kyverno is a policy engine designed for Kubernetes. A security vulnerability was found in Kyverno where an attacker could cause denial of service of Kyverno. The vulnerable component in Kyvernos Notary verifier. An attacker would need control over the registry from which Kyverno would fetch attestations. With such a position, the attacker could return a malicious response to Kyverno, when Kyverno would send a request to the registry. The malicious response would cause denial of service of Kyverno, such that other users' admission requests would be blocked from being processed. This is a vulnerability in a new component released in v1.11.0. The only users affected by this are those that have been building Kyverno from source at the main branch which is not encouraged. Users consuming official Kyverno releases are not affected. There are no known cases of this vulnerability being exploited in the wild.
Noroxi analysis
No Noroxi analysis for this record yet
We don't hand-write analysis for the hundreds of thousands of vulnerabilities in the database; that wouldn't be honest. For notable, high-impact vulnerabilities our team writes the mechanism, detection and remediation steps.
We use this product, ask for help- Published
- Nov 13, 2023
- Updated
- Jun 17, 2026
- EPSS
- 0.7% · 50th percentile
- CWE
- CWE-835
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Report tools
Action score
21
Monitor
Low priority for now.
- CVSS
- 21 / 40 · 5.3 / 10
- CISA KEV
- 0 / 30 · Not listed
- EPSS
- 0 / 30 · 0.7%
CNA vs NVD score
- NVD
- 5.3
- CNA · GitHub_M
- 3.1
- 2.2 point gap
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
The score given by the assigning authority versus NVD’s independent score. A gap means the severity is contested.
Affected systems
| Vendor | Product | CPE |
|---|---|---|
| nirmata | kyverno | cpe:2.3:a:nirmata:kyverno |
Affected versions
NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.
- nirmata kyverno1.11.0
Versions reported by the vendor
Affected version ranges reported by the assigning authority (GitHub_M). Independent of NVD's CPE analysis and usually ahead of it.
kyverno kyverno
- >= 80d139bb5d1d9d7e907abe851b97dc73821a5be2, < fec2992e3f9fcd6b9c62267522c09b182e7df73baffected
Package-level exposure
OSV and GitHub Advisory data: ecosystem, package and range. SBOM matching uses this table.
| Ecosystem | Package | Affected range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| Go | github.com/kyverno/kyverno | from 1.5.0-rc1.0.20230601080528-80d139bb5d1d · before 1.5.0-rc1.0.20230918070231-fec2992e3f9f | 1.5.0-rc1.0.20230918070231-fec2992e3f9f |
Same product
nirmata: all recordsOther highest-scoring records for the same primary product.
- CVE-2023-33191kyverno seccomp control can be circumvented35Monitor
- CVE-2024-48921Kyverno's PolicyException objects can be created in any namespace by default34Monitor
- CVE-2023-34091Kyverno resource with a deletionTimestamp may allow policy circumvention26Monitor
- CVE-2023-42816Denial of service from malicious signature in kyverno21Monitor
- CVE-2023-42815Denial of service from malicious image manifest in kyverno21Monitor
- CVE-2023-42813Denial of service from malicious manifest in kyverno21Monitor
Remediation
Which version to upgrade to
Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.
| Product / package | Fixed version | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Go:github.com/kyverno/kyverno | 1.5.0-rc1.0.20230918070231-fec2992e3f9f | Package registry (OSV) |
Exploit status
No known public exploit
No public exploit has been observed yet. That doesn't mean you're safe, only that the bar is a little higher.
Research context
For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.
Timeline
From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.
No dated events beyond publication.
FIRST EPSS daily score; only changes of 0.01 or more are recorded (step chart).
Patch and commit links
Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.
Credits
All researchersFinders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.
No credits in the CNA record.
Variant candidates
Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.
- CVE-2023-428150 days apartDenial of service from malicious image manifest in kyverno21Monitor
Chain candidates
An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.
—
Bug bounty scope
No known public program.
Source: bounty-targets-data (public HackerOne, Bugcrowd, Intigriti, YesWeHack listings).
Technical details
Attack conditions
- Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it.
- No account or password is required.
- A user must open a link or visit a page.
- Special conditions such as timing or configuration are required.
If successful
- Confidentiality
- none
- Integrity
- none
- Availability
- high · the service can be disrupted
- Attack vector
- Network
- Attack complexity
- High
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality impact
- None
- Integrity impact
- None
- Availability impact
- High
Weakness class (CWE)
CWE-835 · Loop with Unreachable Exit Condition ('Infinite Loop')CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
nvd-primary
Attack context
MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.
MITRE has no CAPEC/ATT&CK mapping for this CWE.
Change log
- Fix✗ → ✓
For records you follow, these changes also arrive as notifications. →
References
- github.com/kyverno/kyverno/commit/80d139bb5d1d9d7e907abe851b97dc73821a5be2
- github.com/kyverno/kyverno/commit/fec2992e3f9fcd6b9c62267522c09b182e7df73b
- github.com/kyverno/kyverno/pull/8428
- github.com/kyverno/kyverno/security/advisories/GHSA-9g37-h7p2-2c6r
Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.