Vulnerability in Kata-Containers
CVE-2026-44210
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.
Published · last modified .
CVSS v3 metric
CVSS v3 base score 9.9 (Critical). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H.
EPSS exploit prediction
EPSS: 0.006 (47.7th percentile), scored .
Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 48th percentile — 47.7% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.
EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.005 · newest: 0.006 · change: +0.001
Affected products
- Kata-Containers — versions < 3.31.0
- Katacontainers Kata Containers
Weakness classification (CWE)
References
Frequently asked questions
- What is CVE-2026-44210?
- CVE-2026-44210 is a critical-severity vulnerability in Kata-Containers, classified under Argument Injection. CVSS score: 9.9/10. Published 2026-07-23.
- How severe is CVE-2026-44210?
- Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.9 out of 10.