Resource exhaustion in Kubernetes

CVE-2020-8557

The Kubernetes kubelet component in versions 1.1-1.16.12, 1.17.0-1.17.8 and 1.18.0-1.18.5 do not account for disk usage by a pod which writes to its own /etc/hosts file. The /etc/hosts file mounted in a pod by kubelet is not included by the kubelet eviction manager when calculating ephemeral storage usage by a pod. If a pod writes a large amount of data to the /etc/hosts file, it could fill the storage space of the node and cause the node to fail.

Vulnerability class: DoS (Denial of Service)

EPSS: 0.005 (40.0th percentile) — read the EPSS interpretation.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 5.5 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.

Affected products

Weakness classification (CWE)

Public proof-of-concept exploits

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2020-8557?
CVE-2020-8557 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Kubernetes, classified under Uncontrolled Resource Consumption. CVSS score: 5.5/10. Published 2020-07-23.
How severe is CVE-2020-8557?
Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 5.5 out of 10.
Is CVE-2020-8557 known to be exploited?
12 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.