CVE-2026-95838
Description
A flaw was found in containerd. When unpacking image layers with specific file configurations such as opaque whiteout markers, the unpack handler performs repeated directory traversals. An attacker can exploit this by providing a maliciously crafted container image, leading to a Denial of Service (DoS) through excessive CPU consumption, prolonged image extraction times, and delays to unrelated container deployments.
Statement
This vulnerability is rated as having a Low impact because exploitation requires a user or automated pipeline to ingest an untrusted, specially structured container image, and the blast radius is confined to temporary CPU consumption and delayed layer extraction rather than host compromise or daemon termination. Red Hat Enterprise Linux and OpenShift Container Platform employ CRI-O and Podman as their primary container runtimes by default, significantly limiting the exposure of containerd across standard Red Hat deployments. The issue only affects environments or specialized standalone images where containerd explicitly pulls and unpacks untrusted third-party images.
Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Score Details
Info alert:Important note
CVSS scores for open source components depend on vendor-specific factors (e.g. version or build chain). Therefore, Red Hat's score and impact rating can be different from NVD and other vendors. Red Hat remains the authoritative CVE Naming Authority (CNA) source for its products and services (see Red Hat classifications).
The following CVSS metrics and score provided are preliminary and subject to review.
CVSS v3 Score Breakdown
| Red Hat | NVD | cve.org | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base Score | 3.3 | N/A | N/A |
| Attack Vector | Local | N/A | N/A |
| Attack Complexity | Low | N/A | N/A |
| Privileges Required | None | N/A | N/A |
| User Interaction | Required | N/A | N/A |
| Scope | Unchanged | N/A | N/A |
| Confidentiality | None | N/A | N/A |
| Integrity Impact | None | N/A | N/A |
| Availability Impact | Low | N/A | N/A |
Vector
Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
Understanding the Weakness (CWE)
Availability
Technical Impact: DoS: Resource Consumption (CPU)
Frequently Asked Questions
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