Host denial of service via rootfs misclassification
Published Jan 29, 2026 · Updated Jan 29, 2026
Denial of service in Kata Containers before 3.26.0 allows remote authenticated users to disrupt a Linux host via a layerless image. The runtime treats containerd's bind-mounted empty snapshotter directory as a block device and hotplugs its backing host device into the guest. Exploitation requires permission to spawn a Kata-runtime container with the default overlayfs snapshotter; concurrent filesystem access can trigger double inode allocation, remount the host disk read-only, and stop workloads.
Summary
What happened
Denial of service in Kata Containers before 3.26.0 allows remote authenticated users to disrupt a Linux host via a layerless image. The runtime treats containerd's bind-mounted empty snapshotter directory as a block device and hotplugs its backing host device into the guest. Exploitation requires permission to spawn a Kata-runtime container with the default overlayfs snapshotter; concurrent filesystem access can trigger double inode allocation, remount the host disk read-only, and stop workloads.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-24054
- Published
- Jan 29, 2026
- Updated
- Jan 29, 2026
- Vendor
- Kata Containers
- Product
- Kata Containers
- Classifications
- CWE-754, T1499
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Jan 29, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Jan 29, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.
Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=< 3.26.0
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
- GHSA-5fc8-gg7w-3g5c layerless-image PoCproof of concept · demonstrated
Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.
Technologies
Your stack
See the directory against your own environment.
Your stack
Check the software in your environment
Book a demo to see how Hinoki identifies affected software and validates exploitability in your environment.
Book a demo