CVE-2026-24054

CriticalPublic PoC

Published: 29 January 2026

Published

29 January 2026

Modified

24 February 2026

KEV Added

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Patch

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CVSS Score 10.0 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:H/A:H

EPSS Score 0.0009 26.1th percentile

Risk Priority 20 60% EPSS · 20% KEV · 20% CVSS

Summary

CVE-2026-24054 is a critical-severity Improper Check for Unusual or Exceptional Conditions (CWE-754) vulnerability in Katacontainers Kata Containers. Its CVSS base score is 10.0 (Critical).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked at the 26.1th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified are NIST 800-53 RA-5 (Vulnerability Monitoring and Scanning) and SI-2 (Flaw Remediation).

Threat & Defense at a Glance

What attackers do: exploitation maps to Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190) and 1 other technique. What defenders deploy: see the NIST 800-53 controls recommended below.

Threat & Defense Details

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5)AI

SI-2 Flaw Remediation good match

prevent

Timely flaw remediation by upgrading to Kata Containers 3.26.0 directly patches the bind-mount fallback and block device hotplug issue, preventing host filesystem disruption from malformed container images.

RA-5 Vulnerability Monitoring and Scanning good match

detectrespond

Vulnerability scanning detects Kata Containers versions prior to 3.26.0 and triggers remediation to address the critical flaw exploitable via crafted images.

SI-10 Information Input Validation partial match

prevent

Validating container images at runtime entry points for proper layers and structure blocks malformed inputs that trigger the faulty containerd fallback bind-mount.

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI

T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access

Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.

attack.mitre.org →

T1499.004 Application or System Exploitation Impact

Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities that can cause an application or system to crash and deny availability to users.

attack.mitre.org →

Why these techniques?

Remote exploitation of container runtime (public-facing) via crafted image directly triggers host DoS via system exploitation and filesystem impact.

Confidence: MEDIUM · MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise v18.1

NVD Description

Kata Containers is an open source project focusing on a standard implementation of lightweight Virtual Machines (VMs) that perform like containers. In versions prior to 3.26.0, when a container image is malformed or contains no layers, containerd falls back to…

bind-mounting an empty snapshotter directory for the container rootfs. When the Kata runtime attempts to mount the container rootfs, the bind mount causes the rootfs to be detected as a block device, leading to the underlying device being hotplugged to the guest. This can cause filesystem-level errors on the host due to double inode allocation, and may lead to the host's block device being mounted as read-only. Version 3.26.0 contains a patch for the issue.

Deeper analysisAI

CVE-2026-24054 is a critical vulnerability (CVSS 3.1 score of 10.0) affecting Kata Containers versions prior to 3.26.0, an open source project providing lightweight Virtual Machines that emulate container performance. The issue arises in conjunction with containerd: when a container image is malformed or lacks layers, containerd falls back to bind-mounting an empty snapshotter directory as the container rootfs. During the Kata runtime's attempt to mount this rootfs, the bind mount is misinterpreted as a block device, resulting in the underlying host device being hotplugged into the guest VM. This triggers filesystem-level errors on the host, such as double inode allocation, and can cause the host's block device to mount as read-only (CWE-754).

A remote attacker with network access can exploit this vulnerability without privileges, user interaction, or special complexity (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C). By deploying a specially crafted container image with no layers or malformed content to a vulnerable Kata Containers deployment, the attacker triggers the faulty bind-mount and hotplug behavior. Successful exploitation disrupts host filesystem integrity, leading to errors from inode conflicts and rendering affected block devices read-only, potentially denying write access and causing broader system instability.

Mitigation is available via the patch in Kata Containers version 3.26.0, as detailed in the project's security advisory (GHSA-5fc8-gg7w-3g5c) and related commits. Security practitioners should upgrade affected deployments immediately and review the referenced code changes in containerd's overlay snapshot plugin and Kata's virtcontainers module for implementation details.