Kubevirt: virt-handler-rhel9: kubevirt: virt-handler notify server trusts vmi identity from unauthenticated grpc request body
Summary
| CVE | CVE-2026-13208 |
|---|---|
| State | PUBLISHED |
| Assigner | redhat |
| Source Priority | CVE Program / NVD first with legacy fallback |
| Published | 2026-06-24 21:16:52 UTC |
| Updated | 2026-07-06 17:51:17 UTC |
| Description | A flaw was found in KubeVirt's virt-handler domain notify server. The gRPC handlers for HandleDomainEvent and HandleK8SEvent derive the VMI identity (namespace/name) solely from the request body without validating it against the connection's origin. Each virt-launcher pod connects through a per-VMI pipe socket, but no identity tag is propagated from the pipe path to the server handlers. This allows a compromised virt-launcher process to send forged domain lifecycle events for any other VMI scheduled on the same node, causing virt-handler to erroneously update that VMI's state and disrupt its lifecycle management. |
Risk And Classification
Primary CVSS: v3.1 6.5 MEDIUM from [email protected]
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H
EPSS: 0.000900000 probability, percentile 0.005720000 (date 2026-07-08)
Problem Types: CWE-287 | CWE-287 Improper Authentication
| Version | Source | Type | Score | Severity | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.1 | [email protected] | Secondary | 6.5 | MEDIUM | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H |
| 3.1 | CNA | CVSS | 6.5 | MEDIUM | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H |
CVSS v3.1 Breakdown
Attack Vector
LocalAttack Complexity
LowPrivileges Required
LowUser Interaction
NoneScope
ChangedConfidentiality
NoneIntegrity
NoneAvailability
HighCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H
NVD Known Affected Configurations (CPE 2.3)
| Type | Vendor | Product | Version | Update | Edition | Language |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Application | Kubevirt | Kubevirt | - | All | All | All |
| Application | Redhat | Openshift Virtualization | All | All | All | All |
Vendor Declared Affected Products
| Source | Vendor | Product | Version | Platforms |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CNA | Red Hat | Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization 4 | Not specified | Not specified |
| CNA | Red Hat | Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization 4 | Not specified | Not specified |
References
| Reference | Source | Link | Tags |
|---|---|---|---|
| bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi | [email protected] | bugzilla.redhat.com | Issue Tracking, Vendor Advisory |
| access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-13208 | [email protected] | access.redhat.com | Mitigation, Vendor Advisory |
| CVE Program record | CVE.ORG | www.cve.org | canonical |
| NVD vulnerability detail | NVD | nvd.nist.gov | canonical, analysis |
Vendor Comments And Credit
Discovery Credit
CNA: This issue was discovered by Huzaifa Sidhpurwala (Red Hat). (en)
Additional Advisory Data
| Source | Time | Event |
|---|---|---|
| CNA | 2026-06-24T00:00:00.000Z | Reported to Red Hat. |
| CNA | 2026-06-24T00:00:00.000Z | Made public. |
Workarounds
CNA: Organizations can reduce exposure by: (1) restricting pods/exec permission on virt-launcher pods via admission policies (e.g., Gatekeeper or Kyverno rules denying exec on pods with the kubevirt.io launcher label), (2) using node affinity or dedicated node pools to isolate high-security tenant workloads from untrusted tenants, and (3) monitoring for unexpected VMI state transitions via cluster alerting.
There are currently no legacy QID mappings associated with this CVE.