CVE-2026-13622: Kubevirt: virt-handler-rhel9: kubevirt: virt-handler migration proxy follows symlinks allowing container escape to host

Severity: high (CVSS 8.8 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.2% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2026-08-12 · updated 2026-10-23
Weakness: CWE-22

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.

Affected products

Red Hat Container Native Virtualization 4.12: all versions — fixed in 1785837722
Red Hat Container Native Virtualization 4.13: all versions — fixed in 1786346596
Red Hat Container Native Virtualization 4.14: all versions — fixed in 1786309624
Red Hat Container Native Virtualization 4.15: all versions — fixed in 1786347656
Red Hat Container Native Virtualization 4.16: all versions — fixed in 1786030071
Red Hat Container Native Virtualization 4.17: all versions — fixed in 1786348529
Red Hat Container Native Virtualization 4.18: all versions — fixed in 1786130068
Red Hat Container Native Virtualization 4.19: all versions — fixed in 1786334215
Red Hat Container Native Virtualization 4.20: all versions — fixed in 1785831334
Red Hat Container Native Virtualization 4.21: all versions — fixed in 1785829701
Red Hat Container Native Virtualization 4.22: all versions — fixed in 1785140336

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Red Hat Container Native Virtualization 4.12 1785837722; Red Hat Container Native Virtualization 4.13 1786346596; Red Hat Container Native Virtualization 4.14 1786309624; Red Hat Container Native Virtualization 4.15 1786347656; Red Hat Container Native Virtualization 4.16 1786030071; Red Hat Container Native Virtualization 4.17 1786348529; Red Hat Container Native Virtualization 4.18 1786130068; Red Hat Container Native Virtualization 4.19 1786334215; Red Hat Container Native Virtualization 4.20 1785831334; Red Hat Container Native Virtualization 4.21 1785829701; Red Hat Container Native Virtualization 4.22 1785140336. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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