Description
KubeVirt is a virtual machine management add-on for Kubernetes. In versions 0.59.0 and prior, if a malicious user has taken over a Kubernetes node where virt-handler (the KubeVirt node-daemon) is running, the virt-handler service account can be used to modify all node specs. This can be misused to lure-in system-level-privileged components which can, for instance, read all secrets on the cluster, or can exec into pods on other nodes. This way, a compromised node can be used to elevate privileges beyond the node until potentially having full privileged access to the whole cluster. The simplest way to exploit this, once a user could compromise a specific node, is to set with the virt-handler service account all other nodes to unschedulable and simply wait until system-critical components with high privileges appear on its node. No patches are available as of time of publication. As a workaround, gatekeeper users can add a webhook which will block the `virt-handler` service account to modify the spec of a node.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|---|
| kubevirt | kubevirt | <= 0.59.0 | — |
Fixed in Linux distributions
Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.
SUSE
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| SLES 15 SP4 | kubevirt | 0.54.0-150400.3.13.1 | SUSE-SU-2023:1967-1 |
Show 2 more (older releases, extended support, other products)Fewer releases
| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| SLE Micro 5.4 | kubevirt | 0.54.0-150400.3.13.1 | SUSE-SU-2023:1967-1 |
| SLE Micro 5.3 | kubevirt | 0.54.0-150400.3.13.1 | SUSE-SU-2023:1967-1 |
openSUSE
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| openSUSE Tumbleweed | kubevirt | 0.59.0-2.1 | openSUSE-SU-2024:12792-1 |
| openSUSE Tumbleweed | kubevirt1.8 +1 | 1.8.3-1.1 | openSUSE-SU-2026:11091-1, openSUSE-SU-2026:11057-1 |
| openSUSE Leap 15.4 | kubevirt | 0.54.0-150400.3.13.1 | SUSE-SU-2023:1967-1 |
Show 1 more (older releases, extended support, other products)Fewer releases
| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| openSUSE Leap Micro 5.3 | kubevirt | 0.54.0-150400.3.13.1 | SUSE-SU-2023:1967-1 |
Azure Linux
| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Azure Linux 3 | kubevirt | 1.2.0-1 | — |
| Azure Linux 2 (CBL-Mariner) | kubevirt | 0.59.0-20 | — |
Affected packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Affected | Fixed | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Go | kubevirt.io/kubevirt | <= 0.59.0 | — | GHSA-cp96-jpmq-xrr2 |
Advisories 4
- openSUSE-SU-2026:11091-1 kubevirt1.8-container-disk-1.8.3-1.1 on GA media SUSE / openSUSE Security Updates · Jun 24, 2026
- openSUSE-SU-2026:11057-1 kubevirt-1.8-container-disk-1.8.3-1.1 on GA media SUSE / openSUSE Security Updates · Jun 19, 2026
- SUSE-SU-2023:1967-1 Security update for kubevirt, virt-api-container, virt-controller-container, virt-handler-container, virt-launcher-container, virt-libguestfs-tools-container, virt-operator-container SUSE / openSUSE Security Updates · Feb 4, 2026
- openSUSE-SU-2024:12792-1 kubevirt-container-disk-0.59.0-2.1 on GA media SUSE / openSUSE Security Updates · May 7, 2025