Controller service interruption via oversized PEM parsing
Published Dec 12, 2024 · Updated Jun 26, 2026
Denial of service in cert-manager allows remote authenticated users to exhaust controller CPU by supplying crafted PEM data. Controller code passes certificate or key material from Kubernetes resources such as Secrets to Go's pem.Decode, whose scan of large invalid inputs consumes disproportionate CPU. Exploitation requires permission to create or modify many large PEM-bearing resources, and it delays or interrupts certificate management rather than cluster workloads directly.
Summary
What happened
Denial of service in cert-manager allows remote authenticated users to exhaust controller CPU by supplying crafted PEM data. Controller code passes certificate or key material from Kubernetes resources such as Secrets to Go's pem.Decode, whose scan of large invalid inputs consumes disproportionate CPU. Exploitation requires permission to create or modify many large PEM-bearing resources, and it delays or interrupts certificate management rather than cluster workloads directly.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2024-12401
- Published
- Dec 12, 2024
- Updated
- Jun 26, 2026
- Vendor
- Red Hat
- Product
- cert-manager Operator for Red Hat OpenShift
- Classifications
- CWE-20, T1499
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Dec 12, 2024CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Jun 26, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
Affected versions are unavailable in this record. Check the vendor advisory for version and patch details.
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
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Public exploit references
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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