K&N air filters are the standard part in the 13,000+ Van's RV aircraft that are flying around the world. K&N air filters have been fitted to every Rotax 912,915 installation that i have seen. K&N air filters are fitted to many other experimental aircraft, example Glastar.
If there was a problem I think we would know about it by now.
Over priming, carb leaking, fires that happen while attempting a start will happen regardless of the air filter type.
We had one such case at our airport last year, an RV with a K&N air filter, surprisingly there was no damage to the filter itself. I got to see all the damage with the cowl off.