Symlink Following Affecting kubevirt-manifests package, versions <1.7.4-150700.3.33.1


Severity

Recommended
0.0
medium
0
10

Based on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server security rating.

Threat Intelligence

EPSS
0.15% (5th percentile)

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  • Snyk IDSNYK-SLES157-KUBEVIRTMANIFESTS-18533081
  • published5 Aug 2026
  • disclosed4 Aug 2026

Introduced: 4 Aug 2026

NewCVE-2026-13201  (opens in a new tab)
CWE-61  (opens in a new tab)

How to fix?

Upgrade SLES:15.7 kubevirt-manifests to version 1.7.4-150700.3.33.1 or higher.

NVD Description

Note: Versions mentioned in the description apply only to the upstream kubevirt-manifests package and not the kubevirt-manifests package as distributed by SLES. See How to fix? for SLES:15.7 relevant fixed versions and status.

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.

CVSS Base Scores

version 3.1