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.
Affected products
Version statuses are supplied by the assigning organization. Consult the original record for detailed ranges and platform conditions.
kata-containers kata-containers
< 4.0.0affected
References
- https://github.com/kata-containers/kata-containers/security/advisories/GHSA-mp2j-xm59-qfgw ↗
- https://github.com/kata-containers/kata-containers/commit/03cc670076099530f4e1e9cb22849afdafb20f65 ↗
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/08/23/3 ↗
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/08/24/1 ↗