Kubevirt: virt-handler-rhel9: kubevirt: safepath symlink following in virt-handler enables notify socket hijacking and node-level vm disruption
- Published
- Last modified
- Where the record stands: published, rejected by its publisher, or superseded by another id.What do these mean? →
- published
- Whether CISA lists it in its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog: proof that attackers are using it.What do these mean? →
- Not listed in CISA KEV
- Whether working attack code is public (Exploit-DB, Metasploit, Nuclei or GitHub). Public code makes attacks easier.What do these mean? →
- None on Exploit-DB, Metasploit or GitHub
- Exploitation: none
- Automatable: no
- Technical impact: partial
Summary
A flaw was found in KubeVirt's safepath package used by virt-handler. The OpenAtNoFollow function uses O_PATH|O_NOFOLLOW to obtain a file descriptor to a path leaf, but downstream operations resolve the path via /proc/self/fd/N using link-following syscalls. When the leaf is a symlink, the kernel dereferences it, defeating the intended no-follow protection. An attacker with access to a virt-launcher pod can exploit this to redirect virt-handler's IPC socket connections, including the notify socket used for VM domain lifecycle events. By hijacking this socket, the attacker can inject arbitrary domain events into virt-handler, causing it to take incorrect lifecycle actions, corrupt VM state in the Kubernetes API, or crash — resulting in sustained denial of VM management services for all virtual machines on the affected node. Additionally, the same symlink following flaw allows virt-handler to apply file ownership or permission changes to unintended host paths.
Timeline
- CVE published
- CISA SSVC assessment
Exploitation: none · Automatable: no · Technical impact: partial
- Record last updated
Affected versions
- container-native-virtualization/virt-handler
Version range not reported
- container-native-virtualization/virt-handler-rhel9
Version range not reported
- container-native-virtualization/virt-handler-rhel9
Version range not reported
- container-native-virtualization/virt-handler-rhel9
Version range not reported
- container-native-virtualization/virt-handler-rhel9
Version range not reported
- container-native-virtualization/virt-handler-rhel9
Version range not reported
- container-native-virtualization/virt-handler-rhel9
Version range not reported
- container-native-virtualization/virt-handler-rhel9
Version range not reported
- container-native-virtualization/virt-handler-rhel9
Version range not reported
- container-native-virtualization/virt-handler-rhel9
Version range not reported
- container-native-virtualization/virt-handler-rhel9
Version range not reported