Kubeflow Pipelines: Pipeline archive upload allows decompression bomb to exhaust server memory
Kubeflow Pipelines 2.17.3 and earlier are affected, because the API server decompresses pipeline archive uploads before checking namespace authorization. The fix is in 2.18.0.
- Published
- Last modified
- Where the record stands: published, rejected by its publisher, or superseded by another id.What do these mean? →
- published
- Whether CISA lists it in its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog: proof that attackers are using it.What do these mean? →
- Not listed in CISA KEV
- How many real-world setups can hit the bug, from the vendor's advisory and CISA data. It does not know your setup.What do these mean? →
- Unclear
- Fix
- Fixed in 2.18.0
- Whether working attack code is public (Exploit-DB, Metasploit, Nuclei or GitHub). Public code makes attacks easier.What do these mean? →
- None on Exploit-DB, Metasploit or GitHub
- Exploitation: none
- Automatable: yes
- Technical impact: partial
Summary
Kubeflow Pipelines API server, used to build and deploy machine learning workflows, is affected in versions before 2.18.0. A remote user who can reach the upload endpoint could send a small compressed archive that expands to a very large size, exhausting the server's memory and disrupting service for other users.
Summarized by anthropic/claude-haiku-5.5. Verify details against the original sources.
Read the original description
Kubeflow Pipelines enables users to build and deploy portable, scalable machine learning workflows. Prior to 2.18.0, the API server decompressed uploaded pipeline archives without adequately bounding expanded data while locating or reading the pipeline file. A small ZIP or gzip-compressed tar archive can consume disproportionately large memory and exhaust API-server resources. Multipart pipeline and pipeline-version upload processing performs decompression before namespace authorization, so a reachable caller does not need a successful pipeline-create authorization decision. URL-import handlers authorize before fetching and decompressing a remote archive. The amount of expansion required to interrupt service depends on deployment resource limits and concurrent activity, and no specific archive is guaranteed to crash every deployment. This issue is fixed in version 2.18.0.
Timeline
- CVE published
- First seen by cve.now
- CISA SSVC assessment
Exploitation: none · Automatable: yes · Technical impact: partial
- Record last updated
Affected versions
- kubeflow pipelines
fixed in 2.18.0
References 6
Questions about CVE-2026-118761
What does this mean?
The server unpacks a compressed pipeline archive that is uploaded through the API before it checks whether the caller is allowed to use that namespace. A small archive that expands to a very large size can therefore exhaust the server's memory.Source: github.com
Am I affected, and how do I check?
Kubeflow Pipelines versions 2.17.3 and earlier are affected. The issue applies to multipart pipeline and pipeline-version upload processing, which is reachable by the caller. To check a deployment, look up the Kubeflow Pipelines version the API server runs.Source: github.com
What should I do about it?
Upgrade the API server to Kubeflow Pipelines 2.18.0, which contains the fix.Source: github.com
Is it being exploited?
It is not in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, and CISA's SSVC assessment does not mark exploitation as active. That does not mean it has not been attacked: vendors and researchers can report attacks before CISA lists them. No public exploit code is tracked.Source: cve.now feed data