CVE-2026-50540
Severity CVSS v4.0:
Pending analysis
Type:
CWE-20
Input Validation
Publication date:
07/08/2026
Last modified:
07/08/2026
Description
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.
Impact
Base Score 3.x
9.60
Severity 3.x
CRITICAL