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Public proof of conceptFix available

CVE-2019-11253

A public proof of concept exists; no exploitation attested.

  • Published2019-10-17
  • Fixed in1.16.2 · 1.15.5 · 1.14.8 · 1.13.12
  • WeaknessCWE-20 · CWE-776

Am I affected?

With a domain, we read the version its public headers and pages expose. A distribution build can carry the fix under an older number.

Description

Improper input validation in the Kubernetes API server in versions v1.0-1.12 and versions prior to v1.13.12, v1.14.8, v1.15.5, and v1.16.2 allows authorized users to send malicious YAML or JSON payloads, causing the API server to consume excessive CPU or memory, potentially crashing and becoming unavailable. Prior to v1.14.0, default RBAC policy authorized anonymous users to submit requests that could trigger this vulnerability. Clusters upgraded from a version prior to v1.14.0 keep the more permissive policy by default for backwards compatibility.

Timeline

dates in UTC
  1. 2019-10-1716:15CVE publishedNVD

Observed activity

isMalicious corpus · updated 2026-11-04 09:37 UTC
Indicators tagged with this CVE, per day0 indicators over 7 days
Block these indicators
  • Firewall list (EDL, text): https://api.ismalicious.com/edl/cve/CVE-2019-11253?format=txt
  • CSV export: https://api.ismalicious.com/edl/cve/CVE-2019-11253?format=csv
  • TAXII collection of exploited CVEs
  • The EDL and CSV take an API key on the Pro plan.

Versions per branch

NVD · OSV
Kubernetes
BranchAffectedFixed in
1.16≥ 1.16.0, < 1.16.21.16.2
1.15≥ 1.15.0, < 1.15.51.15.5
1.14≥ 1.14.0, < 1.14.81.14.8
1.13≥ 1.13.0, < 1.13.121.13.12
1.x≥ 1.0.0, < 1.13.121.13.12
1.x≥ 1.1.0, ≤ 1.12.10no fix published
Redhat openshift container platform
BranchAffectedFixed in
3.9= 3.9no fix published
3.10= 3.10no fix published
3.11= 3.11no fix published

as publishedRanges as NVD and OSV publish them; a distribution’s build can be fixed under an older number.

Distribution builds and vendor advisories

Packages from OSV.dev and products from the vendors' CSAF advisories.

version not verifiedVersions not verified: read as OSV.dev and the vendors publish them, not checked against each vendor's release list.

Packages

  • atomic-openshiftRed Hat:openshift:3.11::el7all versions · fixed in 0:3.11.154-1.git.0.7a097ad.el7and 12 other packages
  • atomic-openshiftRed Hat:openshift:3.10::el7all versions · fixed in 0:3.10.181-1.git.0.3ab4b3d.el7and 12 other packages
  • atomic-openshiftRed Hat:openshift:3.9::el7all versions · fixed in 0:3.9.102-1.git.0.6411f52.el7and 13 other packages
  • containerdCleanStartall versions · fixed in 1.3.3-r0
  • containerdAlpine:v3.24all versions · fixed in 1.3.3-r0
  • containerdAlpine:v3.23all versions · fixed in 1.3.3-r0
  • containerdAlpine:v3.22all versions · fixed in 1.3.3-r0
  • containerdAlpine:v3.21all versions · fixed in 1.3.3-r0

31 more package ranges on OSV.dev

Vendor advisories

  • CVE-2019-11253 Red Hat Product Security113 products fixed · 3 known affected

    kubernetes: YAML parsing vulnerable to "Billion Laughs" attack, allowing for remote denial of service

    serivicemesh-grafana.src as a component of OpenShift Service Mesh 1 · osp-director-provisioner-container as a component of Red Hat OpenStack Platform 16.2 · rhosp-rhel8/osp-director-downloader as a component of Red Hat OpenStack Platform 16.2

  • RHSA-2022:2183 Red Hat Product Security1 product fixed

    Red Hat Security Advisory: Release of containers for OSP 16.2.z director operator tech preview

  • RHSA-2020:2870 Red Hat Product Security2 products fixed

    Red Hat Security Advisory: Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh 1.0 servicemesh-cni security update

  • RHSA-2020:2863 Red Hat Product Security2 products fixed

    Red Hat Security Advisory: Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh 1.0 servicemesh-prometheus security update

  • RHSA-2020:2861 Red Hat Product Security3 products fixed

    Red Hat Security Advisory: Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh 1.0 servicemesh-grafana security update

  • RHSA-2020:2795 Red Hat Product Security2 products fixed

    Red Hat Security Advisory: Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh 1.1 servicemesh-operator security update

7 more advisories

Full record on NVD

Fix

  1. Update Kubernetes to 1.16.2 · 1.15.5 · 1.14.8 · 1.13.12
  2. Vendor fix Red Hat Product Security RHSA-2022:2183 · 1 productOSP 16.2 Release - OSP Director Operator Containers tech preview
  3. Vendor fix Red Hat Product Security RHSA-2020:2870 · 2 productsThe OpenShift Service Mesh release notes provide information on the features and known issues: https://docs.openshift.com/container-platform/latest/service_mesh/servicemesh-release-notes.html
  4. Vendor fix Red Hat Product Security RHSA-2020:2863 · 2 productsThe OpenShift Service Mesh release notes provide information on the features and known issues: https://docs.openshift.com/container-platform/latest/service_mesh/servicemesh-release-notes.html
  5. Vendor fix Red Hat Product Security RHSA-2019:3905 · 24 productsFor OpenShift Container Platform 3.11, see the following documentation, which will be updated shortly for release 3.11.154, for important instructions on how to upgrade your cluster and fully apply this asynchronous errata update: https://docs.openshift.com/container-platform/3.11/release_notes/oc…
  6. Vendor fix Red Hat Product Security RHSA-2019:3811 · 15 productsFor OpenShift Container Platform 3.9 see the following documentation, which will be updated shortly for release 3.9.102, for important instructions on how to upgrade your cluster and fully apply this asynchronous errata update: https://docs.openshift.com/container-platform/3.9/release_notes/ocp_3_…
  7. Vendor fix Red Hat Product Security RHEA-2019:3809 · 27 productsBefore applying this update, make sure all previously released errata relevant to your system have been applied. For details on how to apply this update, refer to: https://access.redhat.com/articles/11258

Advisories and patches

Detection

read 2026-11-03 22:42 UTC
Nuclei template
available
ProjectDiscovery
Exploit-DB
no entry
Exploit-DB
Proof-of-concept repositories
none listed
PoC-in-GitHub
Metasploit modules
none listed
Metasploit Framework

Sources

  • CNACVSS 3.17.5known since 2026-10-23
  • NVDCVSS 3.17.5read 2026-10-23
  • NVDCVSS 2.05read 2026-10-23
  • CNAweakness (CWE)CWE-20known since 2026-10-23
  • NVDweakness (CWE)CWE-776read 2026-10-23
  • FIRST EPSSEPSS score25.9 %read 2026-11-03
  • ProjectDiscoverydetectionread 2026-11-03
  • OSVaffected packages—
  • GitHub AdvisoriesadvisoryHIGH2021-05-17

Identifiers

Technical details

CVSS v3 Vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Published
2019-10-17
Last Modified
2026-06-17
NVD status
Analyzed
GitHub Advisory
GHSA-pmqp-h87c-mr78

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2019-11253?

Improper input validation in the Kubernetes API server in versions v1.0-1.12 and versions prior to v1.13.12, v1.14.8, v1.15.5, and v1.16.2 allows authorized users to send malicious YAML or JSON payloads, causing the API server to consume excessive CPU or memory, potentially crashing and becoming unavailable. Prior to v1.14.0, default RBAC policy authorized anonymous users to submit requests that could trigger this vulnerability. Clusters upgraded from a version prior to v1.14.0 keep the more permissive policy by default for backwards compatibility.

Is CVE-2019-11253 actively exploited?

Active exploitation of CVE-2019-11253 has not been confirmed. Its EPSS score was 25.9% on 2026-11-03, the estimated probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2019-11253?

CVE-2019-11253 has a CVSS v3 base score of 7.5 (HIGH severity), with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.

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