Cyber Resilience

CVE-2026-78408

Published
02 September 2026
Modified
03 September 2026
CVSS Score v3.1 7.9
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:N/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0011 1th percentile
Risk Priority 52 floored blend · peak EPSS

CVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.

Summary

CVE-2026-78408 is a high-severity Missing Release of File Descriptor or Handle after Effective Lifetime (CWE-775) vulnerability. Its CVSS base score is 7.9 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Endpoint Denial of Service (T1499); ranked at the 1th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) and SA-15 (Development Process, Standards, and Tools) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

The nsenter --join-cgroup option opens the target cgroup.procs file as root and leaves that file descriptor open across later namespace and credential changes and across execve(). Because the kernel checks later cgroup migrations using the credentials from the original open,…

more

a program run in an attacker-controlled target can inherit root's ability to move host processes between cgroups. After a privileged operator uses --join-cgroup against that target, an unprivileged user can migrate and terminate unrelated root processes.

CWE(s)
CWE-775

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1499 Endpoint Denial of Service Impact
Adversaries may perform Endpoint Denial of Service (DoS) attacks to degrade or block the availability of services to users.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2024-24444Shared CWE-775
CVE-2025-53476Shared CWE-775
CVE-2026-45287Shared CWE-775
CVE-2025-13751Shared CWE-775

Affected Assets

Mitigating Controls

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

SA-11 Developer Testing and Evaluation good match

Developer testing and evaluation can discover unreleased descriptors but does not itself enforce their release.

SA-15 Development Process, Standards, and Tools partial match

Requiring documented secure-development standards and tools can embed mandatory handle-management rules that avoid the weakness.

SA-8 Security and Privacy Engineering Principles partial match

Engineering principles can mandate explicit resource-release patterns that stop descriptor/handle leaks from being coded.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure SDLC practices directly enforce proper resource release (e.g., file handles) in code.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

A.8.29 Security testing in development and acceptance mostly match
finds

Security testing can detect unreleased descriptors, providing partial coverage of the weakness.

A.8.10 Information deletion partial match
degrades

Explicit deletion of information assets can include closing file descriptors, but does not mandate it at the code level.

A.8.25 Secure development life cycle partial match
prevents

Secure SDLC practices can require resource-release reviews, yet the control is broader than this single weakness.

A.8.28 Secure coding partial match
prevents

Secure-coding standards can mandate explicit close/release of handles, directly mitigating CWE-775.

References