CVE-2026-44180: Jupyter Enterprise Gateway UID/GID restriction bypass in ContainerProcessProxy

CVE-2026-44180 · Severity: critical · CVSS 9.8 · Published 2026-07-16

Jupyter Enterprise Gateway is a tool used to manage and launch computing tasks across large clusters like Kubernetes and Apache Spark. A security flaw allows users to bypass safety restrictions and run these tasks with administrative (root) privileges. This could allow an attacker to escape their isolated environment, take control of the underlying server hardware, and potentially compromise the entire computing cluster and its data.

Technologies: Jupyter Enterprise Gateway, jupyter_enterprise_gateway (PyPI). Vendors: Jupyter, PyPI.

Quick answers

Is CVE-2026-44180 exploited in the wild?
No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-2026-44180 being exploited in the wild.
How severe is CVE-2026-44180?
Critical severity, with a CVSS score of 9.8, published 16 July 2026.
Which products and versions are affected?
Jupyter Enterprise Gateway >= 2.0.0rc1, < 3.3.0; jupyter_enterprise_gateway (PyPI) >= 2.0.0rc1, < 3.3.0, ECOSYSTEM:introduced=2.0.0rc1,fixed=3.3.0.
Is there a fix for CVE-2026-44180?
Yes. jupyter_enterprise_gateway (PyPI): upgrade to 3.3.0 or later. Junglewise finds every place you run it, drafts the upgrade and applies it once you approve.
How is CVE-2026-44180 attacked?
It is attacked over the network, in a software library.
Am I affected by CVE-2026-44180?
Check whether you run Jupyter Enterprise Gateway or jupyter_enterprise_gateway (PyPI) at an affected version. Junglewise does that check for you around the clock: connect your code, cloud and domains, and it matches new vulnerabilities like this one against what you actually run and tells you when one reaches you.

How to fix

  • jupyter_enterprise_gateway (PyPI): upgrade to 3.3.0 or later
    pip install "jupyter_enterprise_gateway>=3.3.0"

Technical details

An improper input validation vulnerability exists in the `ContainerProcessProxy._enforce_prohibited_ids` method of Jupyter Enterprise Gateway. The gateway attempts to block the launch of kernels with UID or GID 0 (root) by comparing user-supplied strings against a prohibited list; however, this check can be bypassed by adding trailing whitespace (e.g., '0 ') to the `KERNEL_UID` or `KERNEL_GID` environment variables. Because the downstream Jinja2 templates for Kubernetes manifests cast these values to integers, the whitespace is ignored during pod creation, resulting in a container running as root. An attacker can leverage these elevated privileges alongside hostPath volume mounts to achieve a container escape, leading to remote code execution on the worker node and potential lateral movement across the Kubernetes cluster. The issue is fixed in version 3.3.0.

Affected products

  • jupyter-server enterprise_gateway >= 2.0.0rc1, < 3.3.0

Identifiers

  • CVE-2026-44180
  • GHSA-chq7-94j8-cj28
  • PYSEC-2026-363

Timeline

  • 2026-06-03: advisory: GitHub Security Advisory GHSA-chq7-94j8-cj28 published
  • 2026-07-16: disclosed: CVE-2026-44180 published to NVD
  • 2022-06-01: patched: Version 3.3.0 released with fix

References

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