Critical severity · published Jul 1, 2026
CVE-2026-53492
containerd CRI checkpoint restore CDI annotation smuggling
9.6
CVSS
0.4%
EPSS
No
On KEV
Description
containerd is an open-source container runtime. In Versions prior to 2.3.2, 2.2.5 and 2.1.9, the CRI implementation improperly trusts Container Device Interface (CDI) annotations found within untrusted checkpoint image metadata during container restoration. When restoring a container from a checkpoint, containerd preserves CDI-related annotations from the checkpoint archive rather than relying solely on the pod's create-time specification. This allows a user with pod creation permissions to bypass standard Kubernetes resource allocation and device plugin enforcement, injecting arbitrary CDI edits (such as device nodes and host mounts) into the restored container. Successful exploitation requires that the node has CDI enabled and contains a matching host CDI specification for the requested device; environments where CDI is disabled or lacking sensitive device specifications are not affected. This issue has been fixed in versions 2.3.2, 2.2.5 and 2.1.9.
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
None
Scope
Changed
Exploitation
Is it being used?
Exploit prediction (EPSS)0.4% · higher than 29% of CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo evidence yet
CISA KEVNot listed
Ransomware campaign useNot known
Affected products
Which versions
CO
containerd · containerd
>= 2.1.0, < 2.1.9; >= 2.2.0, < 2.2.5; >= 2.3.0, < 2.3.2 · source: vendor, NVD
Affected product
CO
containerd
containerd
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