{"dataType": "CVE_RECORD", "dataVersion": "5.2", "cveMetadata": {"cveId": "CVE-2026-13622", "assignerOrgId": "53f830b8-0a3f-465b-8143-3b8a9948e749", "state": "PUBLISHED", "assignerShortName": "redhat", "dateReserved": "2026-06-29T09:41:40.974Z", "datePublished": "2026-08-12T20:46:15.766Z", "dateUpdated": "2026-08-12T20:46:15.766Z"}, "containers": {"cna": {"title": "Kubevirt: virt-handler-rhel9: kubevirt: virt-handler migration proxy follows symlinks allowing container escape to host", "metrics": [{"other": {"content": {"value": "Important", "namespace": "https://access.redhat.com/security/updates/classification/"}, "type": "Red Hat severity rating"}}, {"cvssV3_1": {"attackComplexity": "LOW", "attackVector": "LOCAL", "availabilityImpact": "HIGH", "baseScore": 8.8, "baseSeverity": "HIGH", "confidentialityImpact": "HIGH", "integrityImpact": "HIGH", "privilegesRequired": "LOW", "scope": "CHANGED", "userInteraction": "NONE", "vectorString": "CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H", "version": "3.1"}, "format": "CVSS"}], "descriptions": [{"lang": "en", "value": "A symlink following vulnerability was found in KubeVirt's virt-handler migration proxy. During live migration, virt-handler dials Unix sockets inside the target virt-launcher pod via /proc/<pid>/root/ paths using net.Dial() without symlink protection. These socket paths reside in qemu-owned directories writable by the virt-launcher user. An attacker with namespace edit and pods/exec permissions can replace a migration proxy socket with a symlink to the host CRI-O socket. Because virt-handler runs as root in the host mount namespace, absolute symlink targets resolve against the host filesystem, and the bidirectional io.Copy proxy relays attacker-controlled bytes to the container runtime, enabling full node compromise."}], "affected": [{"vendor": "Red Hat", "product": "Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization 4", "collectionURL": "https://access.redhat.com/downloads/content/package-browser/", "packageName": "container-native-virtualization/virt-handler", "defaultStatus": "affected", "cpes": ["cpe:/a:redhat:container_native_virtualization:4"]}, {"vendor": "Red Hat", "product": "Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization 4", "collectionURL": "https://access.redhat.com/downloads/content/package-browser/", "packageName": "container-native-virtualization/virt-handler-rhel9", "defaultStatus": "affected", "cpes": ["cpe:/a:redhat:container_native_virtualization:4"]}], "references": [{"url": "https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-13622", "tags": ["vdb-entry", "x_refsource_REDHAT"]}, {"url": "https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2494142", "name": "RHBZ#2494142", "tags": ["issue-tracking", "x_refsource_REDHAT"]}], "datePublic": "2026-08-12T00:00:00.000Z", "problemTypes": [{"descriptions": [{"cweId": "CWE-22", "description": "Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')", "lang": "en", "type": "CWE"}]}], "x_redhatCweChain": "CWE-22: Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')", "workarounds": [{"lang": "en", "value": "Restrict pods/exec permissions in namespaces that run virtual machines. The pods/exec RBAC permission is required for the attack \u2014 removing it from VM operator roles prevents exploitation. \n\nAdditionally, enable Kubernetes audit logging and monitor for kubectl exec commands targeting virt-launcher pods, especially during live migration events."}], "timeline": [{"lang": "en", "time": "2026-06-29T10:07:50.206Z", "value": "Reported to Red Hat."}, {"lang": "en", "time": "2026-08-12T00:00:00.000Z", "value": "Made public."}], "credits": [{"lang": "en", "value": "This issue was discovered by Huzaifa Sidhpurwala (Red Hat)."}], "providerMetadata": {"orgId": "53f830b8-0a3f-465b-8143-3b8a9948e749", "shortName": "redhat", "dateUpdated": "2026-08-12T20:46:15.766Z"}, "x_generator": {"engine": "cvelib 1.8.0"}}}}

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{"affected": [{"affectedData": [{"collectionURL": "https://access.redhat.com/downloads/content/package-browser/", "cpes": ["cpe:/a:redhat:container_native_virtualization:4"], "defaultStatus": "affected", "packageName": "container-native-virtualization/virt-handler", "product": "Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization 4", "vendor": "Red Hat"}, {"collectionURL": "https://access.redhat.com/downloads/content/package-browser/", "cpes": ["cpe:/a:redhat:container_native_virtualization:4"], "defaultStatus": "affected", "packageName": "container-native-virtualization/virt-handler-rhel9", "product": "Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization 4", "vendor": "Red Hat"}], "source": "secalert@redhat.com"}], "cveTags": [], "descriptions": [{"lang": "en", "value": "A symlink following vulnerability was found in KubeVirt's virt-handler migration proxy. During live migration, virt-handler dials Unix sockets inside the target virt-launcher pod via /proc/<pid>/root/ paths using net.Dial() without symlink protection. These socket paths reside in qemu-owned directories writable by the virt-launcher user. An attacker with namespace edit and pods/exec permissions can replace a migration proxy socket with a symlink to the host CRI-O socket. Because virt-handler runs as root in the host mount namespace, absolute symlink targets resolve against the host filesystem, and the bidirectional io.Copy proxy relays attacker-controlled bytes to the container runtime, enabling full node compromise."}], "id": "CVE-2026-13622", "lastModified": "2026-08-12T21:17:35.630", "metrics": {"cvssMetricV31": [{"cvssData": {"attackComplexity": "LOW", "attackVector": "LOCAL", "availabilityImpact": "HIGH", "baseScore": 8.8, "baseSeverity": "HIGH", "confidentialityImpact": "HIGH", "integrityImpact": "HIGH", "privilegesRequired": "LOW", "scope": "CHANGED", "userInteraction": "NONE", "vectorString": "CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H", "version": "3.1"}, "exploitabilityScore": 2.0, "impactScore": 6.0, "source": "secalert@redhat.com", "type": "Primary"}]}, "published": "2026-08-12T21:17:35.630", "references": [{"source": "secalert@redhat.com", "url": "https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-13622"}, {"source": "secalert@redhat.com", "url": "https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2494142"}], "sourceIdentifier": "secalert@redhat.com", "vulnStatus": "Received", "weaknesses": [{"description": [{"lang": "en", "value": "CWE-22"}], "source": "secalert@redhat.com", "type": "Primary"}]}

{"acknowledgement": "This issue was discovered by Huzaifa Sidhpurwala (Red Hat).", "bugzilla": {"description": "kubevirt: virt-handler-rhel9: kubevirt: virt-handler migration proxy follows symlinks allowing container escape to host", "id": "2494142", "url": "https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2494142"}, "csaw": false, "cvss3": {"cvss3_base_score": "8.8", "cvss3_scoring_vector": "CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H", "status": "draft"}, "cwe": "CWE-22", "details": ["A symlink following vulnerability was found in KubeVirt's virt-handler migration proxy. During live migration, virt-handler dials Unix sockets inside the target virt-launcher pod via /proc/<pid>/root/ paths using net.Dial() without symlink protection. These socket paths reside in qemu-owned directories writable by the virt-launcher user. An attacker with namespace edit and pods/exec permissions can replace a migration proxy socket with a symlink to the host CRI-O socket. Because virt-handler runs as root in the host mount namespace, absolute symlink targets resolve against the host filesystem, and the bidirectional io.Copy proxy relays attacker-controlled bytes to the container runtime, enabling full node compromise."], "mitigation": {"lang": "en:us", "value": "Restrict pods/exec permissions in namespaces that run virtual machines. The pods/exec RBAC permission is required for the attack \u2014 removing it from VM operator roles prevents exploitation. \nAdditionally, enable Kubernetes audit logging and monitor for kubectl exec commands targeting virt-launcher pods, especially during live migration events."}, "name": "CVE-2026-13622", "package_state": [{"cpe": "cpe:/a:redhat:container_native_virtualization:4", "fix_state": "Affected", "package_name": "container-native-virtualization/virt-handler", "product_name": "Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization 4"}, {"cpe": "cpe:/a:redhat:container_native_virtualization:4", "fix_state": "Affected", "package_name": "container-native-virtualization/virt-handler-rhel9", "product_name": "Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization 4"}], "public_date": "2026-08-12T00:00:00Z", "references": ["https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-13622\nhttps://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-13622"], "statement": "Red Hat has rated this vulnerability as Important impact. The vulnerable code is in the virt-handler component, a privileged DaemonSet running as root in the host mount namespace on every compute node. Its migration proxy dials Unix sockets inside target virt-launcher pods via /proc/<pid>/root/ using net.Dial(), which follows symbolic links. Because virt-handler operates in the host mount namespace, absolute symlink targets resolve against the host root filesystem, enabling container-to-host escape.\nExploitation requires an authenticated user with namespace-level edit permissions (kubevirt.io:edit) and pods/exec access \u2014 standard permissions for VM operators. The impact of successful exploitation is complete node compromise via CRI-O socket access, bypassing all Kubernetes admission controls.", "threat_severity": "Important"}

{"affected": [{"configurations": [{"platform": null, "status": "affected", "versions": null}], "product": "kubevirt", "vendor": "kubevirt"}, {"configurations": [{"platform": null, "status": "affected", "versions": null}], "enrichment": {"confidence": 85.0, "confidence_source": "matching", "scores": [{"score": 85.0, "source": "matching"}]}, "original": {"product": "Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization 4", "source": "cna", "vendor": "Red Hat"}, "product": "openshift_virtualization", "vendor": "redhat"}], "created": "2026-08-13T02:30:12.399894+00:00", "updated": "2026-08-13T10:39:13.366762+00:00", "vendors": ["kubevirt", "kubevirt$PRODUCT$kubevirt", "redhat", "redhat$PRODUCT$openshift_virtualization"]}