Unrated

containerd CRI CDI annotation trust bypass during checkpoint restore

IdentifiersCVE-2026-53492CWE-20

containerd's CRI implementation improperly trusts Container Device Interface (CDI) annotations embedded in untrusted checkpoint image metadata when restoring containers from checkpoints. During restore, containerd preserves CDI-related annotations from the checkpoint archive instead of deriving device configuration solely from the pod's create-time specification and Kubernetes-approved resource allocation. Because these annotations are not validated as untrusted input, a crafted checkpoint image can smuggle arbitrary CDI edits into the restored container configuration. This can result in unauthorized device injection and host mount injection, bypassing Kubernetes device plugin and resource allocation enforcement.

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ANALYST BRIEF

Impact, mitigation & remediation

What it means. What to do now. Patch path, mitigations, and the assume-compromise checklist.

Impact

What an attacker gets, and what they’ve been doing with it.

A successful exploit allows an attacker with pod creation permissions to restore a container from a crafted checkpoint and bypass Kubernetes device allocation and device plugin controls. Depending on the matching CDI specification present on the host, the attacker may inject additional device nodes and host mounts into the restored container. This can expand container access beyond what was authorized by the pod spec, potentially enabling access to sensitive host resources and facilitating further compromise of workloads on the node.

Mitigation

If you can’t patch tonight, do this now.

Do not restore containers from untrusted checkpoint images. If checkpoint/restore is not required, disable that feature. If CDI is not required on affected nodes, disable CDI support and remove or temporarily relocate host CDI specifications from /etc/cdi and /var/run/cdi to prevent the injected annotations from resolving to usable device definitions.

Remediation

Patch, then assume compromise.

Upgrade containerd to a fixed release: 2.3.2, 2.2.5, or 2.1.9, as appropriate for the deployed branch. After upgrading, recreate any containers that were previously restored from untrusted checkpoint images, because existing restored containers may retain smuggled CDI configuration introduced before the fix.

PUBLIC EXPLOITS

Exploits

No public exploits tracked yet. Mallory keeps watching.

VALID 0 / 0 TOTALView more in app

No public exploit code observed for this vulnerability.

EXPOSURE SURFACE

Affected products & vendors

Products and vendors Mallory has correlated with this vulnerability. Open in Mallory to drill down to specific CPE configurations and version ranges.

VendorProductType

containerdContainerdapplication

Vendor-confirmed product mapping. Mallory continuously reconciles this list against your asset inventory.

ACTIVITY FEED

Recent activity

4 sources tracked across advisories and community write-ups. News coverage will land here when it surfaces.

4 SOURCESView more in app

No news coverage yet. Advisories and community discussion only.

What this page doesn’t show

The version that knows your environment.

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Exposure mapping

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Threat actor evidence

Every observed campaign linking this CVE to a named adversary.

Associated malware

Malware families riding this exploit, with evidence and IOCs.

Detection signatures

YARA, Sigma, Snort, and vendor rules, auto-deployed to your SIEM.

Vendor-by-vendor mapping

Cross-references every affected SKU, including bundled OEM variants.

Social activity3

Community discussion across Reddit, Mastodon, and other social sources.

EXTERNAL REFERENCES

MITRE CVE

cve.org · CVE-2026-53492

NVD

nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-53492

MITRE CWE · CWE-20

cwe.mitre.org