CVE-2025-47281

Public Exploit
Kyverno's Improper JMESPath Variable Evaluation Leads to Denial of Service

Description

Kyverno is a policy engine designed for cloud native platform engineering teams. In versions 1.14.1 and below, a Denial of Service (DoS) vulnerability exists due to improper handling of JMESPath variable substitutions. Attackers with permissions to create or update Kyverno policies can craft expressions using the {{@}} variable combined with a pipe and an invalid JMESPath function (e.g., {{@ | non_existent_function }}). This leads to a nil value being substituted into the policy structure. Subsequent processing by internal functions, specifically getValueAsStringMap, which expect string values, results in a panic due to a type assertion failure (interface {} is nil, not string). This crashes Kyverno worker threads in the admission controller and causes continuous crashes of the reports controller pod. This is fixed in version 1.14.2.

Category

7.7
CVSS
Severity: High
CVSS 3.1 •
EPSS 0.04%
Vendor Advisory github.com
Affected: kyverno kyverno
Published at:
Updated at:

References

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the severity of CVE-2025-47281?
CVE-2025-47281 has been scored as a high severity vulnerability.
How to fix CVE-2025-47281?
To fix CVE-2025-47281, make sure you are using an up-to-date version of the affected component(s) by checking the vendor release notes. As for now, there are no other specific guidelines available.
Is CVE-2025-47281 being actively exploited in the wild?
It is possible that CVE-2025-47281 is being exploited or will be exploited in a near future based on public information. According to its EPSS score, there is a ~0% probability that this vulnerability will be exploited by malicious actors in the next 30 days.
What software or system is affected by CVE-2025-47281?
CVE-2025-47281 affects kyverno kyverno.
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