High severity · published Aug 12, 2026
CVE-2026-13622
Kubevirt: virt-handler-rhel9: kubevirt: virt-handler migration proxy follows symlinks allowing container escape to host
8.8
CVSS
0.2%
EPSS
No
On KEV
Description
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.
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High
Scope
Changed
Exploitation
Is it being used?
Exploit prediction (EPSS)0.2% · higher than 10% of CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo evidence yet
CISA KEVNot listed
Ransomware campaign useNot known
Affected products
Which versions
RH
Red Hat Container Native Virtualization 4.12 · Red Hat
All versions, or not specified · source: vendor
RH
Red Hat Container Native Virtualization 4.13 · Red Hat
All versions, or not specified · source: vendor
RH
Red Hat Container Native Virtualization 4.14 · Red Hat
All versions, or not specified · source: vendor
RH
Red Hat Container Native Virtualization 4.15 · Red Hat
All versions, or not specified · source: vendor
RH
Red Hat Container Native Virtualization 4.16 · Red Hat
All versions, or not specified · source: vendor
RH
Red Hat Container Native Virtualization 4.17 · Red Hat
All versions, or not specified · source: vendor
RH
Red Hat Container Native Virtualization 4.18 · Red Hat
All versions, or not specified · source: vendor
RH
Red Hat Container Native Virtualization 4.19 · Red Hat
All versions, or not specified · source: vendor
RH
Red Hat Container Native Virtualization 4.20 · Red Hat
All versions, or not specified · source: vendor
RH
Red Hat Container Native Virtualization 4.21 · Red Hat
All versions, or not specified · source: vendor
RH
Red Hat Container Native Virtualization 4.22 · Red Hat
All versions, or not specified · source: vendor
Affected product
RH
Red Hat Container Native Virtualization 4.12
Red Hat
References
NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-13622
CVE.org
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-13622
access.redhat.com
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHEA-2026:53670
access.redhat.com
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:51031
access.redhat.com
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:53655
access.redhat.com
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:53671
access.redhat.com
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:53684
access.redhat.com
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:53721
More from Red Hat Container Native Virtualization 4.12
9.9
CVE-2026-7374
Kubevirt: kubevirt virt-handler: privilege escalation and node compromise via symlink following vulnerability
7.3
CVE-2026-13201
Kubevirt: virt-handler-rhel9: kubevirt: safepath symlink following in virt-handler enables notify socket hijacking and node-level vm disruption
4.8
CVE-2026-40175
Axios has Unrestricted Cloud Metadata Exfiltration via Header Injection Chain
