CVE-2026-53492: containerd trusts CDI annotations in checkpoint images, injecting host devices

High 8.4 EPSS 0.4% containerd

When restoring a container from a checkpoint, containerd's CRI implementation keeps Container Device Interface (CDI) annotations from the untrusted checkpoint archive instead of relying only on the pod's create-time spec. A user with pod creation rights can bypass Kubernetes resource allocation and device-plugin enforcement and inject arbitrary CDI edits, such as device nodes and host mounts, into the restored container. Exploitation needs CDI enabled on the node and a matching host CDI spec for the requested device. The containerd project rates it critical.

• CVE-2026-53492CVE identifier
• 8.4CVSS 4.0 base score (high)
• 0.4%EPSS: chance of exploitation in the next 30 days (higher than 29% of CVEs)
• 2026-07-01published

What do these terms mean? CVE · CVSS score · exploited (KEV) · EPSS · backported fix · all terms

Affected and fixed versions

Affected:

• containerd 2.1.0 before 2.1.9
• containerd 2.2.0 before 2.2.5
• containerd 2.3.0 before 2.3.2

Fixed in:

• containerd 2.1.9
• containerd 2.2.5
• containerd 2.3.2

Am I affected?

containerd --version
dpkg -l 'containerd*' | grep ^ii
rpm -qa | grep -i containerd
kubectl get nodes -o wide   # CONTAINER-RUNTIME column shows containerd://<version>

Patch it

Use the commands for your system. Distribution packages often keep an older version number with the fix backported, so compare with the fixed package versions in the table below, not only with the upstream version.

# Debian 11/12/13 containerd packages (1.6/1.7) are not affected per the Debian tracker.
# Docker's repository (download.docker.com) ships containerd.io 2.4.x:
sudo apt update
sudo apt install --only-upgrade containerd.io
sudo systemctl restart containerd

sudo apt update
sudo apt install --only-upgrade containerd-app containerd-stable
sudo systemctl restart containerd

# Docker's repository (download.docker.com) ships containerd.io 2.4.x:
sudo dnf upgrade containerd.io
sudo systemctl restart containerd

sudo dnf upgrade --refresh containerd

sudo zypper refresh
sudo zypper update containerd

sudo dnf upgrade --releasever=latest containerd

sudo pacman -Syu

apk update && apk upgrade containerd

not supported

Upgrade containerd to 2.1.9, 2.2.5 or 2.3.2 (or later) from https://github.com/containerd/containerd/releases and restart the containerd service on every node. On managed Kubernetes, upgrade node pools/images to a release that ships a fixed containerd.

General update steps for every system are on the Linux and Unix & BSD pages; after updating, see which services to restart.

Fix status in Linux distributions

From the Debian security tracker, Ubuntu CVE tracker and Red Hat Security Data API, refreshed every few hours.

If you cannot patch yet

• Restrict the restoration of containers from untrusted checkpoint images.
• If CDI is not used on the node, remove or temporarily move host CDI specifications out of /etc/cdi and /var/run/cdi; this removes reachability of the flaw.
• After upgrading, recreate any containers that were restored from untrusted checkpoints to remove smuggled configuration.

Related vulnerabilities

• CVE-2026-50195
• CVE-2026-53488

Sources

• containerd advisory GHSA-33vj-92qq-66hc
• Ubuntu CVE-2026-53492
• Debian security tracker CVE-2026-53492
• containerd releases
• CVE-2026-53492 on CVE.org
• CVE-2026-53492 on NVD

Page generated automatically from official sources on 2026-11-03 18:05 UTC and reviewed by an editor. Always confirm with your vendor's advisory.