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9.6

Kata Containers: Malicious files can be loaded on host systems

CVE-2026-50540 · published 27 days ago
Summary

Kata Containers versions prior to 4.0.0 allow a user to load any file from the host system, potentially allowing an attacker to execute malicious code on the host with root privileges. This can be exploited by a user with access to a pod, which is a container that runs in a separate environment. To fix this issue, update to version 4.0.0 or later.

What to do

The CVE record does not list a fixed version. Check the vendor's site or the advisory links below - a fix may already be released.

Affected software
VendorProductAffected versions
kata-containers kata-containers < 4.0.0
Original advisory text
Kata Containers: Config Path Annotation Arbitrary File Loading
Kata Containers is an open source project focusing on a standard implementation of lightweight Virtual Machines (VMs) that perform like containers. Prior to version 4.0.0, kata-runtime is vulnerable to host code execution via an unvalidated configuration path annotation. The runtime accepts an arbitrary io.katacontainers.config_path pod annotation and loads the referenced host TOML file without restriction. As a result, a pod user who can place a file at a host-visible path can supply a configuration that selects an attacker-controlled hypervisor or virtio-fs daemon binary, executing code as root on the host. This issue is fixed in version 4.0.0.
References
Severity
9.6 Critical
CVSS 3.1: 9.6 (MITRE)
CVSS 3.1: 9.6 (OSV)
Exploitation
EPSS <1%
Type
CWE-20Improper Input Validation
CWE-22Path Traversal
Timeline
Published7 Aug 2026
Updated3 Sep 2026
First seen7 Aug 2026
Sources
CVE-2026-50540 · NVD
CVE-2026-50540 · MITRE
CVE-2026-50540 · OSV
GHSA-mp2j-xm59-qfgw · GHSA
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