Kubevirt: kubevirt virt-handler: privilege escalation and node compromise via symlink following vulnerability
Summary
| CVE | CVE-2026-7374 |
|---|---|
| State | PUBLISHED |
| Assigner | redhat |
| Source Priority | CVE Program / NVD first with legacy fallback |
| Published | 2026-05-26 14:16:40 UTC |
| Updated | 2026-05-28 03:16:44 UTC |
| Description | A flaw was found in KubeVirt's virt-handler component. This vulnerability allows an authenticated OpenShift user with edit permissions in a single namespace to exploit improper symlink validation when connecting to virtual machine console sockets. By replacing the console socket with a symlink to the host's container runtime (CRI-O) socket, an attacker can hijack virt-handler's privileged connection. This enables the attacker to access any Unix socket on the host, potentially leading to full control of the node and the entire cluster. |
Risk And Classification
Primary CVSS: v3.1 9.9 CRITICAL from [email protected]
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS: 0.001210000 probability, percentile 0.307320000 (date 2026-06-01)
Problem Types: CWE-59 | CWE-59 Improper Link Resolution Before File Access ('Link Following')
| Version | Source | Type | Score | Severity | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.1 | [email protected] | Secondary | 9.9 | CRITICAL | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H |
| 3.1 | CNA | CVSS | 9.9 | CRITICAL | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H |
CVSS v3.1 Breakdown
Attack Vector
NetworkAttack Complexity
LowPrivileges Required
LowUser Interaction
NoneScope
ChangedConfidentiality
HighIntegrity
HighAvailability
HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
Vendor Declared Affected Products
| Source | Vendor | Product | Version | Platforms |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CNA | Red Hat | Red Hat Container Native Virtualization 4.12 | unaffected 1779375376 * rpm | Not specified |
| CNA | Red Hat | Red Hat Container Native Virtualization 4.13 | unaffected 1778999881 * rpm | Not specified |
| CNA | Red Hat | Red Hat Container Native Virtualization 4.14 | unaffected 1779321599 * rpm | Not specified |
| CNA | Red Hat | Red Hat Container Native Virtualization 4.15 | unaffected 1778859977 * rpm | Not specified |
| CNA | Red Hat | Red Hat Container Native Virtualization 4.16 | unaffected 1778861274 * rpm | Not specified |
| CNA | Red Hat | Red Hat Container Native Virtualization 4.17 | unaffected 1779174925 * rpm | Not specified |
| CNA | Red Hat | Red Hat Container Native Virtualization 4.18 | unaffected 1778887155 * rpm | Not specified |
| CNA | Red Hat | Red Hat Container Native Virtualization 4.19 | unaffected 1779289071 * rpm | Not specified |
| CNA | Red Hat | Red Hat Container Native Virtualization 4.2 | unaffected 1779288737 * rpm | Not specified |
| CNA | Red Hat | Red Hat Container Native Virtualization 4.21 | unaffected 1779420069 * rpm | Not specified |
References
| Reference | Source | Link | Tags |
|---|---|---|---|
| bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi | [email protected] | bugzilla.redhat.com | |
| access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:20866 | [email protected] | access.redhat.com | |
| access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:20975 | [email protected] | access.redhat.com | |
| access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:20763 | [email protected] | access.redhat.com | |
| access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:20890 | [email protected] | access.redhat.com | |
| access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:20782 | [email protected] | access.redhat.com | |
| access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:20886 | [email protected] | access.redhat.com | |
| access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-7374 | [email protected] | access.redhat.com | |
| access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:20767 | [email protected] | access.redhat.com | |
| access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:20736 | [email protected] | access.redhat.com | |
| access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:20825 | [email protected] | access.redhat.com | |
| access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:20720 | [email protected] | access.redhat.com | |
| 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 Sarah Bennert (Red Hat) and Stoyan Nikolov (Red Hat). (en)
Additional Advisory Data
| Source | Time | Event |
|---|---|---|
| CNA | 2026-04-22T07:20:25.000Z | Reported to Red Hat. |
| CNA | 2026-05-26T12:30:00.000Z | Made public. |
Workarounds
CNA: Update cluster RBAC to not allow exec into virt-launcher pods.
There are currently no legacy QID mappings associated with this CVE.