Improper check for unusual conditions in kata-containers
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Attack requirements
- None
- Impact type
- —
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- None · High · High
- Fix status
- Partial Red Hat: 1 without a fix
Attack profile from CVSS 4.0 · CNA. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat.
Summary
Kata Containers is an open source project focusing on a standard implementation of lightweight Virtual Machines (VMs) that perform like containers. In versions prior to 3.26.0, when a container image is malformed or contains no layers, containerd falls back to bind-mounting an empty snapshotter directory for the container rootfs. When the Kata runtime attempts to mount the container rootfs, the bind mount causes the rootfs to be detected as a block device, leading to the underlying device being hotplugged to the guest. This can cause filesystem-level errors on the host due to double inode allocation, and may lead to the host's block device being mounted as read-only. Version 3.26.0 contains a patch for the issue.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- Poc
- Automatable
- Yes
- Technical impact
- Partial
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| kata-containers | kata-containers | before 3.26.0 | 3.26.0 | Patch available | CNA |
- kata-containers Vendorkata-containers Affected before 3.26.0 Fixed in 3.26.0 Patch available CNA
CPE configurations NVD · 1
| CPE | Versions | Role | Vendor |
|---|---|---|---|
| cpe:2.3:a:katacontainers:kata_containers:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | before 3.26.0 | Vulnerable | kata-containers |
- cpe:2.3:a:katacontainers:kata_containers:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions before 3.26.0 Vulnerable ·kata-containers
Remediation
- Fix · CNA kata-containers (kata-containers) Fixed in 3.26.0
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Moderate. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
| Product | Status | Plan or fix |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4 | Affected | No fix yet |
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-24054
References
Patch 4
- https://github.com/kata-containers/kata-containers/commit/20ca4d2d79aa5bf63aa1254f08915da84f19e92a
- https://github.com/containerd/containerd/blob/d939b6af5f8536c2cae85e919e7c40070557df0e/plugins/snapshots/overlay/overlay.go#L564-L581
- https://github.com/kata-containers/kata-containers/blob/a164693e1afead84cd01d5bc3575e2cbfe64ce35/src/runtime/virtcontainers/container.go#L1122-L1126
- https://github.com/kata-containers/kata-containers/blob/c7d0c270ee7dfaa6d978e6e07b99dabdaf2b9fda/src/runtime/virtcontainers/container.go#L1616-L1623
More kata-containers Kata Containers vulnerabilities
- TI-2026-20033 Kata Container to Guest micro VM privilege escalation CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.4
- TI-2026-29927 Kata Containers: CopyFile Policy Subversion via Symlinks CVSS 4.0HIGH 8.2
- TI-2026-32189 Kata Containers have VM Escape via virtiofsd Argument Injection through Default-Enabled Pod Annotations CVSS 4.0MEDIUM 5.8
- TI-2020-16502 An issue was discovered in Kata Containers through 1.11.3 and 2.x through 2.0-rc1. CVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
Sources
- CVE-2026-24054 · CVE Program
- CVE-2026-24054 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- CVE-2026-24054 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Sources and licences