CVE-2020-8551

Node-agent denial of service via unbounded metrics labels

Published Mar 27, 2020 · Updated Aug 4, 2024

Resource exhaustion in affected Kubernetes kubelet releases allows remote attackers to crash the node agent through its HTTP API. ServeHTTP records each attacker-controlled request path as a distinct metrics label, so requests with unique paths grow the in-memory metric set without a bound. Reachability of either the unauthenticated read-only API or authenticated HTTPS API is required; exhaustion interrupts kubelet service on the node.

CVSS severity6.5
Medium
EPSS probability1.14%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
Coverage for this vulnerability

See if you're affected

Explore vulnerability checks for your environment with Hinoki.

Book a demo

Summary

What happened

Resource exhaustion in affected Kubernetes kubelet releases allows remote attackers to crash the node agent through its HTTP API. ServeHTTP records each attacker-controlled request path as a distinct metrics label, so requests with unique paths grow the in-memory metric set without a bound. Reachability of either the unauthenticated read-only API or authenticated HTTPS API is required; exhaustion interrupts kubelet service on the node.

The record

CVE
CVE-2020-8551
Published
Mar 27, 2020
Updated
Aug 4, 2024
Vendor
Kubernetes
Product
Kubernetes
Classifications
CWE-789, CWE-770, T1499.003
Attack vector
adjacent
Privileges
unauthenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Mar 27, 2020CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Aug 4, 2024Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.

Is a vulnerable build present?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=unspecified <v1.15.10
  2. Affected versionversion=unspecified <v1.16.7
  3. Affected versionversion=unspecified <v1.17.3

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectoradjacent
Required privilegesunauthenticated

What is affected?

Kubernetes · Kubernetesversion=unspecified <v1.15.10; version=unspecified <v1.16.7; version=unspecified <v1.17.3

Published CVSS scores

3.3NIST NVDAV:A/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P
6.5NIST NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
4.3GitHubCVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectoradjacent
Privilegesunauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-789Memory Allocation with Excessive Size Value
CWE-770Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling
T1499.003Application Exhaustion Flood

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

See the directory against your own environment.

Your stack

Check the software in your environment

Book a demo to see how Hinoki identifies affected software and validates exploitability in your environment.

Book a demo