Vulnary
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Critical· 9.9

CVE-2026-7374

A critical flaw in KubeVirt's virt-handler component lets an OpenShift user with edit rights in a namespace create a symlink to the host's CRI‑O socket. By doing so, the attacker can hijack the privileged connection and access any Unix socket on the node, potentially taking full control of the cluster.

publishedMay 26, 2026
last modifiedAug 3, 2026
sourcesNVD
severity · cvss
9.9
critical · how bad it is
exploitation · epss
<1%
45th percentile · chance of exploitation in 30 days
(ai-assisted) A model wrote this summary from the official data, so double-check it against the source before you act on it. Read the official advisory →
auto-deletes from the system
counting…on Sep 2, 2026

No official fix yet. If none appears within 45 days of first tracking, this entry is removed automatically.

01

Who is affected

KubeVirt's virt-handler component in OpenShift clusters. Any user with edit permissions in a namespace.

02

Real-world impact

An attacker can hijack privileged connections to the host's container runtime socket, giving them the ability to access any Unix socket on the node and potentially gain full control of the node and the entire cluster.

03

Why this severity

The CVSS score of 9.9 reflects the high impact: the vulnerability is network reachable, requires low attack complexity, low privileges, no user interaction, and compromises confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the entire cluster.

04

What to do about it

no official fix yet
interim mitigations
  • ›Limit edit permissions to trusted users only.
  • ›Avoid using symlinks for console sockets or validate symlink targets.

No official fix or mitigation is documented in the sources yet. Monitor the vendor advisory and apply the patch as soon as it is released.

No fix documented in sources

05

Timeline

  1. May 26, 2026 · May 26, 2026
    Published
    Disclosed and added to the National Vulnerability Database.
  2. Aug 3, 2026 · 1d ago
    Advisory updated
    The NVD record was last revised.
06

How it’s attacked

Attack vectorNetwork (remote)
Attack complexityLow
Privileges requiredLow
User interactionNone needed
ScopeChanged
Confidentiality impactHigh
Integrity impactHigh
Availability impactHigh
07

References & advisories

NVD advisory ↗Search advisories ↗
(ai-assisted) A model wrote this summary from the official data, so double-check it against the source before you act on it. Read the official advisory →