Skip to content
Fencer Vulns
medium 6.5

CVE-2019-11254 json

Kubernetes API Server denial of service vulnerability from malicious YAML payloads

published 2020-04-01 6 y ago modified 2026-09-10 1 mo ago also GHSA-wxc4-f4m6-wwqv , GO-2020-0036 , EUVD-2021-2608

cvss
6.5
version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
3.2%
EPSS 3.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 88%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

The Kubernetes API Server component in versions 1.1-1.14, and versions prior to 1.15.10, 1.16.7 and 1.17.3 allows an authorized user who sends malicious YAML payloads to cause the kube-apiserver to consume excessive CPU cycles while parsing YAML.

Patch / fix

  • go gopkg.in/yaml.v2 2.2.8
  • kubernetes kubernetes 1.15.10, 1.16.7, 1.17.3
  • kubernetes Debian 14, Debian 13, Debian 12 1.17.4-1

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2019-11254

  • openshift openshift 4.5 4.5.0-202007012112.p0.git.0.582d7fc.el7
  • openshift openshift 4.5 4.5.0-202007012112.p0.git.0.582d7fc.el8
  • openshift-hyperkube openshift 4.5 4.5.0-202007012112.p0.git.0.582d7fc.el7
  • openshift-hyperkube openshift 4.5 4.5.0-202007012112.p0.git.0.582d7fc.el8
  • machine-config-daemon openshift 4.5 4.5.0-202007012112.p0.git.2527.d12c3da.el8
  • atomic-openshift openshift 3.11 3.11.232-1.git.0.a5bc32f.el7
  • atomic-openshift-pod openshift 3.11 3.11.232-1.git.0.a5bc32f.el7
  • atomic-openshift-node openshift 3.11 3.11.232-1.git.0.a5bc32f.el7

red hat advisories RHSA-2020:2413RHSA-2020:2479

  • etcd Package Hub 15 SP6, openSUSE Leap 15.6 3.5.12-bp156.4.3.1
  • etcd openSUSE Tumbleweed 3.5.2-1.1

opensuse advisories openSUSE-SU-2025:0003-1openSUSE-SU-2024:11911-1

  • podman Azure Linux 3.0 5.6.1-2
  • buildah Azure Linux 3.0 1.41.4-2

azure linux advisories AZL-44445AZL-44808

Azure Linux vulnerability data, Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation, from https://github.com/microsoft/AzureLinuxVulnerabilityData via OSV, under the MIT licence; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. MIT

Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2019-11254 updated cvss 6.5

kubernetes: Denial of service in API server via crafted YAML payloads by authorized users

  • Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 openshift4/ose-hypershift, openshift4/ose-service-catalog, openshift4/ose-oauth-server-rhel8
    affected: workaround, no fix available, no fix planned “Prevent unauthenticated or unauthorized access to the API server”
  • Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 3.11 atomic-openshift 3.11.232-1.git.0.a5bc32f.el7, atomic-openshift-pod 3.11.232-1.git.0.a5bc32f.el7, atomic-openshift-node 3.11.232-1.git.0.a5bc32f.el7, atomic-openshift-tests 3.11.232-1.git.0.a5bc32f.el7, atomic-openshift-master 3.11.232-1.git.0.a5bc32f.el7, atomic-openshift-clients 3.11.232-1.git.0.a5bc32f.el7, +7 more
    fixed: vendor fix “Prevent unauthenticated or unauthorized access to the API server” RHSA-2020:2479
  • Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.3 openshift4/ose-openshift-apiserver-rhel7 v4.3.9-202003230345
    fixed: vendor fix “Prevent unauthenticated or unauthorized access to the API server” RHSA-2020:0933
  • Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.5 openshift4/ose-hyperkube v4.5.0-202007100518.p0, openshift 4.5.0-202007012112.p0.git.0.582d7fc.el7, openshift 4.5.0-202007012112.p0.git.0.582d7fc.el8, openshift4/ose-oauth-server-rhel7 v4.5.0-202007012112.p0, openshift-hyperkube 4.5.0-202007012112.p0.git.0.582d7fc.el7, openshift-hyperkube 4.5.0-202007012112.p0.git.0.582d7fc.el8
    fixed: vendor fix “Prevent unauthenticated or unauthorized access to the API server” RHSA-2020:2413
  • Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 openshift4/ose-k8s-prometheus-adapter, openshift4/ose-openshift-state-metrics-rhel8 Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.5 openshift4/ose-console v4.5.0-202007012112.p0, openshift4/ose-multus-cni v4.5.0-202007012112.p0, openshift4/ose-cluster-capacity v4.5.0-202007012112.p0, openshift4/ose-cluster-logging-operator v4.5.0-202007012112.p0, openshift4/ose-cluster-machine-approver v4.5.0-202007012112.p0, machine-config-daemon 4.5.0-202007012112.p0.git.2527.d12c3da.el8
    not affected: vulnerable code not present

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

Exploit prediction

3.16% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 88% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
CNA 3.1 6.5 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
NVD 3.1 6.5 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
NVD 2.0 4.0 AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:N/I:N/A:P
GitHub 3.1 6.5 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Affected packages

ecosystem package affected fixed in
go gopkg.in/yaml.v2
<2.2.8
2.2.8
go github.com/go-yaml/yaml
<=2.1.0
all versions
 no fix listed

Affected products

  • Kubernetes Kubernetes

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-1050 Excessive Platform Resource Consumption within a Loop
Technology feeds

References

Sources

Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.