- 7.5HighCVSS base score
- 25.9%Exploitation in 30 daysEPSS · top 2.0% of all CVEs
- NoKnown exploitednot in CISA's KEV catalog
- 1Public exploitsMetasploit, Nuclei and Exploit-DB
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.
Public exploit
An exploit or proof of concept is public: anyone can try it against an unpatched system. The public collections list a Nuclei template for it.
Show the exploits1
Nuclei templates1 template
- Kubernetes API Server - YAML Parsing DoS (Billion Laughs) (Nuclei template) (opens in a new tab)
http/cves/2019/CVE-2019-11253.yamlSeverity high
Modules, templates and exploits as listed by the Metasploit Framework (BSD-3-Clause), ProjectDiscovery's Nuclei templates (MIT) and the Exploit Database (GPLv2), read once a day. Where the data comes from
Timeline
ID reserved
By kubernetes
- 6 months later
· 6 months later
Published
- 5 years later
· 5 years later
Record updated
Changes after publication (a new score, a public exploit, EPSS crossing 1, 10 or 50 %, leaving KEV) are kept since November 2026; earlier ones are not known.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| kubernetesCNA (assigner) | 3.1 | High7.5 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H |
| NVDNVD · Analyzed | 3.1 | High7.5 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 25.9% · top 2.0% of all CVEs (11 Nov 2026)
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: High 7.5.
Affected products
- affected prior to 1.13.12
- affected prior to 1.14.8
- affected prior to 1.15.5
- affected prior to 1.16.2
- affected 1.1
- affected 1.2
- affected 1.3
- affected 1.4
- affected 1.5
- affected 1.6
- affected 1.7
- affected 1.8
- affected 1.9
- affected 1.10
- affected 1.11
- affected 1.12
Affected packages
From reviewed advisories of the GitHub Advisory Database.
- Gok8s.io/kubernetesGHSA-pmqp-h87c-mr78 (opens in a new tab)
What to do
Workaround: Exposure to requests from unauthenticated users can be mitigated by removing all write permissions from unauthenticated users, following instructions at https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/issues/83253
References
References6
- https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/issues/83253 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMx_transferred
- CVE-2019-11253: denial of service vulnerability from malicious YAML or JSON payloads (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_MLISTx_transferred
- RHSA-2019:3239 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_REDHATx_transferred
- https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20191031-0006/ (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMx_transferred
- RHSA-2019:3811 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_REDHATx_transferred
- RHSA-2019:3905 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_REDHATx_transferred
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- EUVD EUVD-2021-1151 (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisory GHSA-pmqp-h87c-mr78 (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://cveledger.app/cve/CVE-2019-11253)Record last updated .