CVE-2026-50540 (GCVE-0-2026-50540)

Vulnerability from cvelistv5 – Published: 2026-08-07 20:56 – Updated: 2026-08-24 06:13
VLAI
Title
Kata Containers: Config Path Annotation Arbitrary File Loading
Summary
Kata Containers is an open source project focusing on a standard implementation of lightweight Virtual Machines (VMs) that perform like containers. Prior to version 4.0.0, kata-runtime is vulnerable to host code execution via an unvalidated configuration path annotation. The runtime accepts an arbitrary io.katacontainers.config_path pod annotation and loads the referenced host TOML file without restriction. As a result, a pod user who can place a file at a host-visible path can supply a configuration that selects an attacker-controlled hypervisor or virtio-fs daemon binary, executing code as root on the host. This issue is fixed in version 4.0.0.
Severity
9.6 (Critical)
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N
SSVC
Exploitation: none Automatable: no Technical Impact: total
CISA Coordinator · CISA-ADP (v2.0.3)
Decision recorded 2026-08-12 22:09 UTC
CWE
  • CWE-20 - Improper Input Validation
  • CWE-22 - Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')
Assigner
References
Impacted products
Vendor Product Version CPE status
kata-containers kata-containers Affected: < 4.0.0
guessed Create a notification for this product.
Show details on NVD website
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  • Not confirmed: The user expressed doubt about the validity of the vulnerability.
  • Not patched: The vulnerability was not observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.



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