CVE-2026-95838Public exploitHinoki check available

Startup delays via repeated opaque-whiteout directory walks

Published Oct 12, 2026 · Updated Oct 12, 2026

CPU exhaustion in containerd's layer unpack handler allows attackers to delay container startup via crafted image layers. The applyNaive function in pkg/archive/tar.go repeatedly walks a growing directory when layer entries interleave files with opaque whiteouts, without remembering directories already processed. Exploitation requires pulling or importing the crafted image through this handler; prolonged unpacking also occupies image-pull concurrency slots and delays unrelated deployments, without an established crash or reboot.

CVSS severity4.6
Medium
EPSS probability0.21%
Next 30 days · Oct 19, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkAvailable
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Summary

What happened

CPU exhaustion in containerd's layer unpack handler allows attackers to delay container startup via crafted image layers. The applyNaive function in pkg/archive/tar.go repeatedly walks a growing directory when layer entries interleave files with opaque whiteouts, without remembering directories already processed. Exploitation requires pulling or importing the crafted image through this handler; prolonged unpacking also occupies image-pull concurrency slots and delays unrelated deployments, without an established crash or reboot.

The record

CVE
CVE-2026-95838
Published
Oct 12, 2026
Updated
Oct 12, 2026
Vendor
containerd
Product
containerd
Classifications
CWE-400, CWE-407, T1499.004
Attack vector
local
Privileges
unauthenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Oct 12, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Oct 12, 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.

  1. Affected versionversion=< 1.7.35
  2. Affected versionversion=>= 2.0.0-beta.0, < 2.0.12
  3. Affected versionversion=>= 2.2.0, < 2.2.8
  4. Affected versionversion=>= 2.3.0, < 2.3.5

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesunauthenticated

What is affected?

containerd · containerdversion=< 1.7.35; version=>= 2.0.0-beta.0, < 2.0.12; version=>= 2.2.0, < 2.2.8; version=>= 2.3.0, < 2.3.5

Published CVSS scores

4.6GitHub_MCVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:A/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

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.

Activity data is delayed. The latest report is Sep 28, 2026.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

Sep 22, 2026Sep 28, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 28, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorlocal
Privilegesunauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitPublished

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-400Uncontrolled Resource Consumption
CWE-407Inefficient Algorithmic Complexity
T1499.004Application or System Exploitation

Public exploit references

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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