CVE-2026-50195
containerd is an open-source container runtime. Versions prior to 2.3.2, 2.2.5 and 2.1.9 contain a vulnerability in the CRI checkpoint import process where it fails to validate the image references specified within a checkpoint image's configuration. An attacker with permissions to create pods can use a crafted checkpoint image to force containerd to pull a malicious image and assign it an arbitrary local tag, thereby poisoning the node's local image cache. Subsequently, if other pods on the same node attempt to use the poisoned tag with an IfNotPresent (or Never) pull policy, they will unknowingly execute the attacker's malicious image instead of the legitimate one. This can lead to a compromise of the affected pods, allowing the attacker to execute arbitrary code under the victim pod's identity. This issue has been fixed in versions 2.3.2, 2.2.5 and 2.1.9.
What this means
- Exposure
- Exploitable remotely over the network, with an ordinary user account and with no action from the victim.
- Impact
- An attacker can read sensitive data, modify or destroy data and take the service offline. The impact spreads beyond the vulnerable component into other parts of the system.
- Weakness
- The origin or integrity of data is not verified before it is trusted.
- Likelihood
- Its EPSS score stays low: nothing points to imminent exploitation, which is no reason to leave it unpatched.
What to doPatch without waiting for the next scheduled cycle.
Read automatically from the CVSS vector, the weakness type (CWE) and the EPSS score. The technical description above remains the one published by NIST.