VulnerabilityModified

CVE-2026-13201

An attacker with access to a virt-launcher pod can exploit this to redirect virt-handler's IPC socket connections, including the notify socket used for VM domain lifecycle events.

HIGH 7.3EPSS 0.22%

Does this matter?

High impact if exploited, but EPSS currently rates exploitation as unlikely (0.22%). Schedule it in the normal patch cycle and watch for a rise in EPSS or a public exploit.

Description

A flaw was found in KubeVirt's safepath package used by virt-handler. The OpenAtNoFollow function uses O_PATH|O_NOFOLLOW to obtain a file descriptor to a path leaf, but downstream operations resolve the path via /proc/self/fd/N using link-following syscalls. When the leaf is a symlink, the kernel dereferences it, defeating the intended no-follow protection. An attacker with access to a virt-launcher pod can exploit this to redirect virt-handler's IPC socket connections, including the notify socket used for VM domain lifecycle events. By hijacking this socket, the attacker can inject arbitrary domain events into virt-handler, causing it to take incorrect lifecycle actions, corrupt VM state in the Kubernetes API, or crash — resulting in sustained denial of VM management services for all virtual machines on the affected node. Additionally, the same symlink following flaw allows virt-handler to apply file ownership or permission changes to unintended host paths.

CVSS 3.1: 7.3 HIGHCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:L/A:H
EPSS: 0.22% probability · 13th percentile
CISA KEV: Not listed
Weakness: CWE-61
Affected: kubevirt/kubevirt · redhat/openshift virtualization
Source: secalert@redhat.com

References

Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA. Refreshed daily.