Critical severity · published May 26, 2026
CVE-2026-7374
Kubevirt: kubevirt virt-handler: privilege escalation and node compromise via symlink following vulnerability
9.9
CVSS
0.7%
EPSS
No
On KEV
Description
A flaw was found in KubeVirt's virt-handler component. This vulnerability allows an authenticated OpenShift user with edit permissions in a single namespace to exploit improper symlink validation when connecting to virtual machine console sockets. By replacing the console socket with a symlink to the host's container runtime (CRI-O) socket, an attacker can hijack virt-handler's privileged connection. This enables the attacker to access any Unix socket on the host, potentially leading to full control of the node and the entire cluster.
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High
Scope
Changed
Exploitation
Is it being used?
Exploit prediction (EPSS)0.7% · higher than 54% 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, CISA
RH
Red Hat Container Native Virtualization 4.13 · Red Hat
All versions, or not specified · source: vendor, CISA
RH
Red Hat Container Native Virtualization 4.14 · Red Hat
All versions, or not specified · source: vendor, CISA
RH
Red Hat Container Native Virtualization 4.15 · Red Hat
All versions, or not specified · source: vendor, CISA
RH
Red Hat Container Native Virtualization 4.16 · Red Hat
All versions, or not specified · source: vendor, CISA
RH
Red Hat Container Native Virtualization 4.17 · Red Hat
All versions, or not specified · source: vendor, CISA
RH
Red Hat Container Native Virtualization 4.18 · Red Hat
All versions, or not specified · source: vendor, CISA
RH
Red Hat Container Native Virtualization 4.19 · Red Hat
All versions, or not specified · source: vendor, CISA
RH
Red Hat Container Native Virtualization 4.20 · Red Hat
All versions, or not specified · source: vendor, CISA
RH
Red Hat Container Native Virtualization 4.21 · Red Hat
All versions, or not specified · source: vendor, CISA
Affected product
RH
Red Hat Container Native Virtualization 4.12
Red Hat
References
NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-7374
CVE.org
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-7374
access.redhat.com
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:20720
access.redhat.com
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:20736
access.redhat.com
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:20763
access.redhat.com
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:20767
access.redhat.com
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:20782
access.redhat.com
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2026:20825
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