Description
KubeVirt is a virtual machine management add-on for Kubernetes. Prior to 1.5.3 and 1.6.1, a vulnerability was discovered that allows a VM to read arbitrary files from the virt-launcher pod's file system. This issue stems from improper symlink handling when mounting PVC disks into a VM. Specifically, if a malicious user has full or partial control over the contents of a PVC, they can create a symbolic link that points to a file within the virt-launcher pod's file system. Since libvirt can treat regular files as block devices, any file on the pod's file system that is symlinked in this way can be mounted into the VM and subsequently read. Although a security mechanism exists where VMs are executed as an unprivileged user with UID 107 inside the virt-launcher container, limiting the scope of accessible resources, this restriction is bypassed due to a second vulnerability. The latter causes the ownership of any file intended for mounting to be changed to the unprivileged user with UID 107 prior to mounting. As a result, an attacker can gain access to and read arbitrary files located within the virt-launcher pod's file system or on a mounted PVC from within the guest VM. This vulnerability is fixed in 1.5.3 and 1.6.1.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|---|
| kubevirt | kubevirt | < 1.5.3, >= 1.6.0-alpha.0, < 1.6.1 | — |
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 SP7 | kubevirt | 1.6.3-150700.3.13.1 | SUSE-SU-2025:4330-1 |
openSUSE
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| openSUSE Tumbleweed | kubevirt | 1.6.3-1.1 | openSUSE-SU-2025:15772-1 |
| openSUSE Tumbleweed | kubevirt1.8 +1 | 1.8.3-1.1 | openSUSE-SU-2026:11091-1, openSUSE-SU-2026:11057-1 |
| openSUSE Leap 16.0 | govulncheck-vulndb | 0.0.20260723T184607-160000.1.1 | openSUSE-SU-2026:21483-1 |
Azure Linux
| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Azure Linux 3 | kubevirt | 1.5.3-2 | — |
| Azure Linux 2 (CBL-Mariner) | kubevirt | 0.59.0-33 | — |
Wolfi
| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wolfi rolling | docker-machine-driver-harvester | 1.0.6-r4 | — |
Affected packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Affected | Fixed | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Go | kubevirt.io/kubevirt | < 1.5.3 | 1.5.3 | GHSA-qw6q-3pgr-5cwq |
| Go | kubevirt.io/kubevirt | >= 1.6.0-alpha.0, < 1.6.1 | 1.6.1 | GHSA-qw6q-3pgr-5cwq |
| Go | kubevirt.io/kubevirt | < 1.5.3 · >= 1.6.0-alpha.0, < 1.6.0-beta.0.0.20250801195231-a81b27d4600c · >= 1.6.0-rc.0, < 1.6.1 | 1.5.3, 1.6.0-beta.0.0.20250801195231-a81b27d4600c, 1.6.1 | GO-2025-4109 |
Advisories 6
- openSUSE-SU-2026:21483-1 Security update for govulncheck-vulndb SUSE / openSUSE Security Updates · Jul 31, 2026
- 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
- WID-SEC-2025-2563 Microsoft Azure Linux: Mehrere Schwachstellen BSI CERT-Bund (WID) · May 11, 2026
- openSUSE-SU-2025:15772-1 kubevirt-container-disk-1.6.3-1.1 on GA media SUSE / openSUSE Security Updates · Mar 23, 2026
- SUSE-SU-2025:4330-1 Security update for kubevirt, virt-api-container, virt-controller-container, virt-exportproxy-container, virt-exportserver-container, virt-handler-container, virt-launcher-container, virt-libguestfs-tools-container, virt-operator-container, virt-pr-helper-container SUSE / openSUSE Security Updates · Mar 23, 2026
References
- https://github.com/kubevirt/kubevirt/security/advisories/GHSA-qw6q-3pgr-5cwq
- https://github.com/kubevirt/kubevirt/commit/09eafa068ec01eca0e96ebafeeb9522a878dbf64
- https://github.com/kubevirt/kubevirt/commit/9dc798cb1efe924a9a2b97b6e016452dec5e3849
- https://github.com/kubevirt/kubevirt/commit/a81b27d4600cf654274dd197119658382affdb08