CVE-2026-24834

Kata Container to Guest micro VM privilege escalation

View on CVE.org
Published Feb 19, 2026 CVSS 3.1 · 9.4 Critical EPSS < 1% KEV · Not listed
Description
Kata Containers is an open source project focusing on a standard implementation of lightweight Virtual Machines (VMs) that perform like containers. In versions prior to 3.27.0, an issue in Kata with Cloud Hypervisor allows a user of the container to modify the file system used by the Guest micro VM ultimately achieving arbitrary code execution as root in said VM. The current understanding is this doesn’t impact the security of the Host or of other containers / VMs running on that Host (note that arm64 QEMU lacks NVDIMM read-only support: It is believed that until the upstream QEMU gains this capability, a guest write could reach the image file). Version 3.27.0 patches the issue.

Analysis

AI-generated

Technical impact

Kata Containers, a lightweight virtual machine implementation for containers, contains a flaw in its use of Cloud Hypervisor that allows a user of a container to modify the filesystem used by the guest micro VM. This privilege escalation can be abused to execute arbitrary code with root privileges inside the guest VM, giving full control over that virtual machine.

Affected Systems

All versions of Kata Containers older than 3.27.0 are affected. Based on the description, it is inferred that the vulnerability applies to all host architectures. The vulnerability is tied to the Cloud Hypervisor component and does not impact the security of the host system or other containers and VMs running on the same host.

Risk and Exploitability

The CVSS score of 9.4 designates this flaw as critical, while the EPSS score of less than 1% indicates a very low current exploitation probability. The vulnerability is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog. An attacker would need to run within the compromised container; the attack does not extend to the host or other isolated workloads, but it allows full control of the guest VM’s environment.

Remediation

No solution or workaround provided in the CVE record.

OpenCVE Recommended Actions

  • Update Kata Containers to version 3.27.0 or later, which includes the Cloud Hypervisor fix.
  • If an immediate update cannot be performed, isolate the container environment and restrict filesystem permissions for the guest VM to prevent unauthorized modifications.
  • Consider disabling or removing the Cloud Hypervisor component as a temporary plug‑in to mitigate the risk until an official patch is applied.

Generated by OpenCVE AI on April 18, 2026 at 11:46 UTC.

Tracking

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Advisories

Source ID Title
Github GHSA Github GHSA GHSA-wwj6-vghv-5p64 Kata Container to Guest micro VM privilege escalation
History
Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'no', 'Exploitation': 'none', 'Technical Impact': 'total'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}

 ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'no', 'Exploitation': 'poc', 'Technical Impact': 'total'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}
Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Katacontainers kata Containers
CPEs cpe:2.3:a:katacontainers:kata_containers:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
Vendors & Products Katacontainers kata Containers
Type Values Removed Values Added
Weaknesses CWE-281
References
Metrics threat_severity

None

 threat_severity

Important
Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Katacontainers
Katacontainers kata-containers
Vendors & Products Katacontainers
Katacontainers kata-containers
Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'no', 'Exploitation': 'none', 'Technical Impact': 'total'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}
Type Values Removed Values Added
Description Kata Containers is an open source project focusing on a standard implementation of lightweight Virtual Machines (VMs) that perform like containers. In versions prior to 3.27.0, an issue in Kata with Cloud Hypervisor allows a user of the container to modify the file system used by the Guest micro VM ultimately achieving arbitrary code execution as root in said VM. The current understanding is this doesn’t impact the security of the Host or of other containers / VMs running on that Host (note that arm64 QEMU lacks NVDIMM read-only support: It is believed that until the upstream QEMU gains this capability, a guest write could reach the image file). Version 3.27.0 patches the issue.
Title Kata Container to Guest micro VM privilege escalation
Weaknesses CWE-732
References
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 9.4, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H'}
Earlier changes (1)
Weaknesses
  • CWE-281

    Improper Preservation of Permissions

  • CWE-732

    Incorrect Permission Assignment for Critical Resource

Sources

Status
PUBLISHED
Assigner
GitHub_M
Published
Updated
Jul 15, 2026, 1:16 AM
Reserved
Jan 27, 2026, 2:51 PM

View source JSON

Updated
Jul 15, 2026, 1:16 AM

JSON

Status
Modified
Published
Feb 19, 2026, 5:24 PM
Modified
Jul 15, 2026, 2:18 AM

View source JSON

Severity
Important
Public date
Feb 19, 2026, 3:57 PM

View source Bugzilla JSON

Updated
Apr 18, 2026, 12:00 PM

JSON