VulnerabilityPublished 29 Oct 2026

CVE-2026-95838: containerd security update

Affects containerdSource GCVE Database

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Not known to be exploited · CVSS 4.6 Medium : upgrade to 1.2.0-330.oe2203sp4 when convenient.

Data as of 29 Oct 2026, 11:04 UTC

CVSS 4.0 base score

4.6Medium

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 12% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch: Available – fixed in 1.2.0-330.oe2203sp4

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

Attack Vector: Local
Attack Complexity: Low
Attack Requirements: None
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: Active
Vulnerable system confidentiality: None
Vulnerable system integrity: None
Vulnerable system availability: Low
Subsequent system confidentiality: None
Subsequent system integrity: None
Subsequent system availability: None

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Local: The vulnerable system is not bound to the network stack and the attacker’s path is via read/write/execute capabilities. Either the attacker exploits the vulnerability by accessing the target system locally (e.g., keyboard, console), or through terminal emulation (e.g., SSH); or the attacker relies on User Interaction by another person to perform actions required to exploit the vulnerability (e.g., using social engineering techniques to trick a legitimate user into opening a malicious document).
Attack Complexity: Low: The attacker must take no measurable action to exploit the vulnerability. The attack requires no target-specific circumvention to exploit the vulnerability. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable system.
Attack Requirements: None: The successful attack does not depend on the deployment and execution conditions of the vulnerable system. The attacker can expect to be able to reach the vulnerability and execute the exploit under all or most instances of the vulnerability.
Privileges Required: None: The attacker is unauthorized prior to attack, and therefore does not require any access to settings or files of the vulnerable system to carry out an attack.
User Interaction: Active: Successful exploitation of this vulnerability requires a targeted user to perform specific, conscious interactions with the vulnerable system and the attacker’s payload, or the user’s interactions would actively subvert protection mechanisms which would lead to exploitation of the vulnerability.
Vulnerable system confidentiality: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the Vulnerable System.
Vulnerable system integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the Vulnerable System.
Vulnerable system availability: Low: Performance is reduced or there are interruptions in resource availability. Even if repeated exploitation of the vulnerability is possible, the attacker does not have the ability to completely deny service to legitimate users. The resources in the Vulnerable System are either partially available all of the time, or fully available only some of the time, but overall there is no direct, serious consequence to the Vulnerable System.
Subsequent system confidentiality: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the Subsequent System or all confidentiality impact is constrained to the Vulnerable System.
Subsequent system integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the Subsequent System or all integrity impact is constrained to the Vulnerable System.
Subsequent system availability: None: There is no impact to availability within the Subsequent System or all availability impact is constrained to the Vulnerable System.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v4.0 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 29 Oct 2026
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponized: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 29 Oct 2026.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponized: A Metasploit exploit module or Exploit-DB entry exists (Metasploit scanner modules do not count), or CISA SSVC or the CVSS exploit maturity reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Upgrade containerd to 1.2.0-330.oe2203sp4.

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
openEuler 22.03-LTS-SP4containerd`pkg:rpm/openEuler/containerd&distro=openEuler-22.03-LTS-SP4`Other threats	Affected <1.2.0-330.oe2203sp4	Fixed in 1.2.0-330.oe2203sp4

Check your own hosts for these packages with threat-finder (opens in a new tab), our free open-source scanner.

AI-suggested

A patch is available and has been released in containerd versions 1.7.35, 2.0.12, 2.2.8, and 2.3.5. Users should upgrade to one of these fixed versions to remediate the vulnerability. No additional mitigation steps are indicated by the vendor advisory.

Description

CVE-2026-95838 is a vulnerability in containerd, an industry-standard container runtime. Prior to versions 1.7.35, 2.0.12, 2.2.8, and 2.3.5, the layer unpack handler in containerd repeatedly traverses directories when processing certain opaque whiteout configurations. A malicious image layer can exploit this to cause repeated directory traversals, leading to high CPU usage, delayed container startup, and reduced image-pull concurrency for unrelated deployments. This issue has been fixed in the specified versions.

Impact

Exploitation of this vulnerability can lead to resource exhaustion on the host system running containerd, specifically high CPU usage and delays in container startup. It also reduces the concurrency of image pulls for unrelated container deployments, potentially degrading overall container platform performance. There is no indication of privilege escalation or code execution. No known exploits in the wild have been reported.

Summary

The vulnerability CVE-2026-95838 affects containerd's layer unpack handler, which processes opaque whiteout configurations during image layer unpacking. Before fixed versions, a specially crafted malicious image layer can trigger repeated directory traversals, causing excessive CPU consumption, delays in container startup, and reduced concurrency in image pulling operations. This impacts the performance and availability of container deployments. The issue is resolved in containerd versions 1.7.35, 2.0.12, 2.2.8, and 2.3.5.

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 29 Oct 2026, 11:04 UTC

Technical details

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