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.
CVE-2026-13201
Score 5.2 from GitHub Security Advisory published 2026-06-24. a secondary CVSS source baseline 7.3; sources differ by 2.1.
- High severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet
No vendor fix yet — apply a workaround or compensating control (WAF / firewall / segmentation) and watch for a patch.
- CVSS v3
- 7.3
- EG Score
- 5.2(medium)
- EPSS
- 2.5%
- KEV
- Not listed
Published
June 24, 2026
Last Modified
July 6, 2026
Advisory Details (2)
Auto-updated Jun 25, 20262492203 – (CVE-2026-13201) CVE-2026-13201 kubevirt: virt-handler-rhel9: kubevirt: safepath symlink following in virt-handler enables notify socket hijacking and node-level VM disruption
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2492203Vendor Advisories for CVE-2026-13201(2)
These vendors published their own advisory mentioning this CVE — often with vendor-specific remediation steps + affected product lists not in NVD.
- CVE-2026-13201Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC)Medium
Kubevirt: virt-handler-rhel9: kubevirt: safepath symlink following in virt-handler enables notify socket hijacking and node-level vm disruption
- GHSA-rcfc-7m3g-h5xhGitHub Security AdvisoriesMedium
A flaw was found in KubeVirt's safepath package. The OpenAtNoFollow function uses O_PATH...
Weakness Classification(1)
MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.
Data Freshness Timeline
(refreshed 18× in last 7d / 37× in last 30d)
Each row is a source pipeline that fetched or updated this CVE on that date, with what changed. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. Most recent first.
- 2026-07-06 16:27 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-06 12:13 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-07-06 12:13 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-05 12:53 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-07-05 12:53 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-05 02:30 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-05 02:30 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-04 13:43 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-07-04 13:43 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-03 14:34 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-07-03 14:34 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-02 15:24 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-07-02 15:24 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-07-01 16:13 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-07-01 16:13 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-06-30 23:22 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-30 17:04 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-06-30 17:03 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-06-29 17:52 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-06-29 17:51 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-06-29 14:06 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-28 18:41 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-06-28 18:41 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-06-28 14:07 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-28 04:56 UTCEPSS rescore
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- 2026-06-28 04:56 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-27 19:31 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-06-27 19:31 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-06-27 03:08 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-26 20:21 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-06-26 20:21 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-06-26 01:51 UTCNVD updateCVSS v3 → 7.3 · severity → HIGH
- 2026-06-25 21:12 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-06-25 21:12 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-06-25 13:49 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-24 22:02 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-06-24 22:02 UTCGHSA enrichment
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