Executive brief
containerd is a container runtime used to manage and isolate application containers. A vulnerability in its checkpoint restore feature allows containers restored from untrusted sources to bypass security restrictions and run with elevated privileges, potentially compromising the entire host system or other containers.
Technical details
The vulnerability exists in containerd's CRI (Container Runtime Interface) implementation and affects the CreateContainer API when restoring containers from untrusted checkpoints. A container restored from a malicious checkpoint file can bypass the destination security context (such as AppArmor profiles, SELinux policies, or seccomp filters) and execute with elevated privileges. The attack requires the criu binary to be present on the host to enable checkpoint/restore functionality. GKE clusters are not vulnerable by default because GKE node images do not include criu; however, custom installations that add criu tooling become susceptible. No CVE has been assigned yet, but the vulnerability is tracked as GHSA-p7v4-vr35-mj6f.
Affected products
- containerd containerd <UNKNOWN>
Timeline
- 2026-09-09: disclosed