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 | 2026-07-15 01:17:00 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 ADP
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS: 0.005960000 probability, percentile 0.441640000 (date 2026-07-04)
Problem Types: CWE-59 | CWE-59 Improper Link Resolution Before File Access ('Link Following')
| Version | Source | Type | Score | Severity | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.1 | ADP | CVSS | 9.9 | CRITICAL | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H |
| 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 | 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c | 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
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
Vendor Declared Affected Products
References
| Reference | Source | Link | Tags |
|---|---|---|---|
| access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:20763 | 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c | access.redhat.com | |
| access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:20886 | 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c | access.redhat.com | |
| access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:20825 | 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c | access.redhat.com | |
| access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:20720 | 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c | access.redhat.com | |
| access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:20866 | 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c | access.redhat.com | |
| access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:20736 | 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c | access.redhat.com | |
| security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2026/cve-2026-7374.json | 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c | security.access.redhat.com | |
| access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:20782 | 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c | access.redhat.com | |
| access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:20767 | 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c | access.redhat.com | |
| access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:20975 | 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c | access.redhat.com | |
| access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:20890 | 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c | access.redhat.com | |
| access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-7374 | 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c | access.redhat.com | |
| bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi | 0b0ca135-0b70-47e7-9f44-1890c2a1c46c | bugzilla.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. |
| ADP | 2026-04-22T07:20:25.000Z | Reported to Red Hat. |
| ADP | 2026-05-26T12:30:00.000Z | Made public. |
Solutions
ADP: RHSA-2026:20825: Red Hat Container Native Virtualization 4.12
ADP: RHSA-2026:20886: Red Hat Container Native Virtualization 4.13
ADP: RHSA-2026:20890: Red Hat Container Native Virtualization 4.14
ADP: RHSA-2026:20866: Red Hat Container Native Virtualization 4.15
ADP: RHSA-2026:20975: Red Hat Container Native Virtualization 4.16
ADP: RHSA-2026:20763: Red Hat Container Native Virtualization 4.17
ADP: RHSA-2026:20736: Red Hat Container Native Virtualization 4.18
ADP: RHSA-2026:20767: Red Hat Container Native Virtualization 4.19
ADP: RHSA-2026:20782: Red Hat Container Native Virtualization 4.20
ADP: RHSA-2026:20720: Red Hat Container Native Virtualization 4.21
Workarounds
CNA: Update cluster RBAC to not allow exec into virt-launcher pods.
ADP: Update cluster RBAC to not allow exec into virt-launcher pods.