CVE-2019-11254 | Kubernetes API Server denial of service vulnerability from malicious YAML payloads

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.

Published: 2020-04-01 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2019-11254 is rated Moderate Risk (56.7/100): CVSS Medium severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 2.34%). EPSS rose +2.23% over the last day, indicating growing attacker interest. Review affected assets and schedule remediation.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2019-11254

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-06-15 0.11% 2.34% +2.23%
2 2025-11-21 0.47% 0.11% -0.36%
3 2025-11-18 — 0.47% —

Full EPSS history (12 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2019-11254

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
6.5 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 2.8 3.6 [email protected]
6.5 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 2.8 3.6 [email protected]
4.0 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:N/I:N/A:P Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
Authentication (AU:S)
A single authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:N)
No confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:N)
No integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P)
Partial availability impact.
 8.0 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2019-11254

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2019-11254

GHSA-wxc4-f4m6-wwqv · Severity: medium · Ecosystem: go — Excessive Platform Resource Consumption within a Loop in Kubernetes

OS Trackers for CVE-2019-11254

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2019-11254 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (kubernetes), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2019-11254
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2019-11254
suse medium CVE-2019-11254 severity moderate: SUSE including 11 source package names (etcd-3.5.12-bp156.4.3.1, etcd-3.5.2-1.1, …), 19 product×package rows across 6 product lines (SUSE CaaS Platform 4.0, SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Containers 15 SP1, … (6 product lines)): Known Not Affected 10, Fixed 9. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2019-11254/
ubuntu medium CVE-2019-11254 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (kubernetes), 16 status rows across 16 suites (bionic, eoan, focal, groovy, hirsute, impish, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, trusty, upstream, xenial): ignored 8, DNE 4, not-affected 3, released 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2019-11254

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2019-11254

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
kubernetes kubernetes < 1.15.10 cpe:2.3:a:kubernetes:kubernetes:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
kubernetes kubernetes >= 1.16.0, < 1.16.7 cpe:2.3:a:kubernetes:kubernetes:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
kubernetes kubernetes >= 1.17.0, < 1.17.3 cpe:2.3:a:kubernetes:kubernetes:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2019-11254

cvelogic Threat Intelligence