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TI-2026-20033 Aliases CVE-2026-24834GHSA-wwj6-vghv-5p64

Kata Container to Guest micro VM privilege escalation

Priority HIGH 76CWE-732Published · Updated

Key facts

Attack vector
Local
Privileges required
None
User interaction
None
Attack complexity
Low
Impact type
—
Confidentiality · integrity · availability
High · High · High
Fix status
Partial Red Hat: 1 without a fix

Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA, GitHub 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 3.27.0, an issue in Kata with Cloud Hypervisor allows a user of the container to modify the file system used by the Guest micro VM ultimately achieving arbitrary code execution as root in said VM. The current understanding is this doesn’t impact the security of the Host or of other containers / VMs running on that Host (note that arm64 QEMU lacks NVDIMM read-only support: It is believed that until the upstream QEMU gains this capability, a guest write could reach the image file). Version 3.27.0 patches the issue.

Why it matters now

Exploitation Proof of concept CISA SSVC · not in CISA KEV
EPSS 0.00244 15th percentileScored 2026-11-07
Public exploit Yes 1 exploit referenceTagged by NVD
Fix Partial kata-containers (kata-containers): 3.27.0github.com/kata-containers/kata-containers/src/runtime (Go): 0.0.0-20260219090056-6a672503973bRed Hat: 1 without a fix

SSVC decision points

CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3

Exploitation
Poc
Automatable
No
Technical impact
Total

The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.

Affected products

VendorProductAffected versionsFixed inStatusSource
kata-containerskata-containersbefore 3.27.03.27.0Patch availableCNA
—github.com/kata-containers/kata-containers/src/runtime (Go)before 0.0.0-20260219090056-6a672503973b0.0.0-20260219090056-6a672503973bPatch availableGHSA-wwj6-vghv-5p64
  • kata-containers Vendorkata-containers Affected before 3.27.0 Fixed in 3.27.0 Patch available CNA
  • github.com/kata-containers/kata-containers/src/runtime (Go) Vendor— Affected before 0.0.0-20260219090056-6a672503973b Fixed in 0.0.0-20260219090056-6a672503973b Patch available GHSA-wwj6-vghv-5p64

CPE configurations NVD · 1

CPEVersionsRoleVendor
cpe:2.3:a:katacontainers:kata_containers:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*before 3.27.0Vulnerablekata-containers
  • cpe:2.3:a:katacontainers:kata_containers:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions before 3.27.0 Vulnerable ·kata-containers

Remediation

  • Fix · CNA kata-containers (kata-containers) Fixed in 3.27.0
  • Fix · GHSA-wwj6-vghv-5p64 github.com/kata-containers/kata-containers/src/runtime (Go) Fixed in 0.0.0-20260219090056-6a672503973b Advisory →

Vendor assessments

Red Hat

Red Hat rating: Important. Red Hat's page for this CVE →

ProductStatusPlan or fix
Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4AffectedNo fix yet
Not affected: 1 product
  • Confidential Compute Attestation

Timeline

  1. 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-24834
  2. 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-wwj6-vghv-5p64

References

Exploit 1

Patch 1

Advisory 1

Other 5

  • TI-2026-19382 Improper check for unusual conditions in kata-containers CVSS 4.0HIGH 8.8
  • 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

This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Sources and licences