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.
Published: 2026-05-26
Score: 9.9 Critical
EPSS: n/a
KEV: No
Impact: n/a
Action: n/a
AI Analysis

No analysis available yet.

Remediation

Vendor Workaround

Update cluster RBAC to not allow exec into virt-launcher pods.

Tracking

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Advisories

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History

Tue, 26 May 2026 13:45:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
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.
Title Kubevirt: kubevirt virt-handler: privilege escalation and node compromise via symlink following vulnerability
First Time appeared Redhat
Redhat container Native Virtualization
Weaknesses CWE-59
CPEs cpe:/a:redhat:container_native_virtualization:4
Vendors & Products Redhat
Redhat container Native Virtualization
References
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 9.9, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H'}


Subscriptions

Redhat Container Native Virtualization
cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: redhat

Published:

Updated: 2026-05-26T13:37:41.137Z

Reserved: 2026-04-29T06:46:44.106Z

Link: CVE-2026-7374

cve-icon Vulnrichment

No data.

cve-icon NVD

Status : Received

Published: 2026-05-26T14:16:40.717

Modified: 2026-05-26T14:16:40.717

Link: CVE-2026-7374

cve-icon Redhat

No data.

cve-icon OpenCVE Enrichment

No data.

Weaknesses