CVE-2026-44210

Kata Containers have VM Escape via virtiofsd Argument Injection through Default-Enabled Pod Annotations

MEDIUM 5.8EPSS 0.6%

Kata Containers is an open source project focusing on a standard implementation of lightweight Virtual Machines (VMs) that perform like containers. Versions prior to 3.31.0 ship with a default configuration that allows pod creators to inject arbitrary command-line arguments into the virtiofsd process through the `io.katacontainers.config.hypervisor.virtio_fs_extra_args` pod annotation. By injecting `-o source=/` along with `--no-announce-submounts` and `--sandbox=none`, an attacker can override the virtiofsd shared directory to serve the entire host root filesystem into the guest VM. Combined with the `kernel_params` annotation (also enabled by default) to activate the agent debug console, the attacker can mount the host filesystem from inside the VM and read or write any file on the host, including /etc/shadow. Version 3.31.0 patches the issue.

Affected: kata-containers
CVSS v4.0 GITHUB: 5.8 MEDIUMCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:N/SC:H/SI:H/SA:H/E:P/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X
CVSS v4.0 GitHub: 5.8 MEDIUMCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:N/SC:H/SI:H/SA:H/E:P
CVSS v3.1 NVD: 9.9 CRITICALCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS: 0.59% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, 47th percentile
Published: 2026-07-23
Updated: 2026-07-24

Proof-of-concept exploits (1)

advisories/GHSA-rr59-xxvx-96qr

CVE-2026-44210

Proof-of-concept exploits (1)

Security advisories

References