CVE-2026-95838
Received Received - Intake

Directory Traversal in Containerd

Publication date: 2026-10-12

Last updated on: 2026-10-12

Assigner: GitHub, Inc.

Description
containerd is an open-source container runtime. Prior to 1.7.35, 2.0.12, 2.2.8, and 2.3.5, containerd's layer unpack handler repeatedly traverses directories for certain opaque whiteout configurations. A malicious image layer can trigger repeated directory traversals while opaque whiteouts are processed. Pulling or importing the image can consume CPU, delay container startup, and reduce image-pull concurrency for unrelated deployments. This issue is fixed in versions 1.7.35, 2.0.12, 2.2.8, and 2.3.5.

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Meta Information

Published
2026-10-12
Last Modified
2026-10-12
Generated
2026-10-13
AI Q&A
2026-10-12
EPSS Evaluated
N/A
NVD
CVE-2026-95838
EUVD
EUVD-2026-97822

Affected Vendors & Products

Showing 4 associated CPEs
Vendor Product Version / Range
containerd containerd < 1.7.35
containerd containerd >= 2.0.0-beta.0, < 2.0.12
containerd containerd >= 2.2.0, < 2.2.8
containerd containerd >= 2.3.0, < 2.3.5

Helpful Resources

Exploitability

CWE
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KEV
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CWE ID Description
CWE-400 The product does not properly control the allocation and maintenance of a limited resource.
CWE-407 An algorithm in a product has an inefficient worst-case computational complexity that may be detrimental to system performance and can be triggered by an attacker, typically using crafted manipulations that ensure that the worst case is being reached.

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Executive Summary

containerd is an open-source container runtime affected by a vulnerability where its layer unpack handler repeatedly traverses directories for certain opaque whiteout configurations. A malicious image layer can trigger repeated directory traversals during opaque whiteout processing, leading to excessive CPU consumption and delayed container startup.

Detection Guidance

To detect this vulnerability, check your containerd version using the command: containerd --version. If the version is below 1.7.35, 2.0.12, 2.2.8, or 2.3.5, your system is vulnerable. Monitor CPU usage and container startup delays during image pulls, especially with untrusted images.

Impact Analysis

This vulnerability can impact you by causing high CPU usage, delaying container startup times, and reducing the ability to pull or import images concurrently. This may disrupt operations in environments relying on containerd for container management.

Compliance Impact

This vulnerability primarily impacts system performance and availability rather than directly violating compliance standards like GDPR or HIPAA. However, prolonged delays in container startup due to excessive CPU usage could potentially disrupt services handling sensitive data, indirectly affecting compliance with availability requirements in regulations such as GDPR (Article 32) or HIPAA (Security Rule).

Mitigation Strategies

Upgrade containerd to versions 1.7.35, 2.0.12, 2.2.8, or 2.3.5 or later to address the vulnerability.

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