Description
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.
Problem types
UNIX Symbolic Link (Symlink) Following
Product status
Timeline
| 2026-06-24: | Reported to Red Hat. |
| 2026-06-24: | Made public. |
Credits
This issue was discovered by Huzaifa Sidhpurwala (Red Hat).
References
access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-13201
bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2492203 (RHBZ#2492203)