CVE-2026-41485 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.7) Reachable Assertion vulnerability in github.com/kyverno/kyverno. O3 Security confirms whether CVE-2026-41485 is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
Kyverno Controller Denial of Service via forEach Mutation Panic
Real-World Exposure
github.com/kyverno/kyverno🐹github.com/kyverno/kyvernoReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Go packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
Kyverno is a policy engine designed for cloud native platform engineering teams. Prior to versions 1.17.2 and 1.16.4, an unchecked type assertion in the forEach mutation handler allows any user with permission to create a Policy or ClusterPolicy to crash the cluster-wide background controller into a persistent CrashLoopBackOff. The same bug also causes the admission controller to drop connections and block all matching resource operations. The crash loop persists until the policy is deleted. The vulnerability is confined to the legacy engine, and CEL-based policies are unaffected. Versions 1.17.2 and 1.16.4 fix the issue.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐹Go | github.com/kyverno/kyverno | ≥ 1.13.0&&< 1.16.4 | 1.16.4 |
| 🐹Go | github.com/kyverno/kyverno | ≥ 1.17.0-rc.1&&< 1.17.2 | 1.17.2 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for github.com/kyverno/kyverno. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.
Fix
Update github.com/kyverno/kyverno to 1.16.4 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2026-41485 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 pinpoints whether CVE-2026-41485 is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.
Tailored to CVE-2026-41485. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2026-41485 in your dependencies?
O3 detects CVE-2026-41485 across Go dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.