CVE-2026-53495: containerd CRI ExecSync goroutine leak denial of service

CVE-2026-53495 · Severity: medium · CVSS 4 · Published 2026-09-14

containerd is a core container runtime used by Kubernetes and container orchestration systems to manage containerized workloads. A resource exhaustion bug in its CRI plugin can cause the containerd daemon to crash due to memory depletion when containers run exec probes or lifecycle hooks with long-lived background processes. An attacker or misconfigured container can trigger this crash repeatedly, disrupting container operations across an entire node until the service is manually restarted.

Technologies: Containerd, github.com/containerd/containerd (Go), github.com/containerd/containerd/v2 (Go). Vendors: Containerd, Go.

Quick answers

Is CVE-2026-53495 exploited in the wild?
No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-2026-53495 being exploited in the wild.
How severe is CVE-2026-53495?
Medium severity, with a CVSS score of 4, published 14 September 2026.
Which products and versions are affected?
Containerd < 1.7.35; github.com/containerd/containerd (Go) SEMVER:introduced=0,fixed=1.7.35; github.com/containerd/containerd/v2 (Go) SEMVER:introduced=0,fixed=2.0.12, SEMVER:introduced=0,fixed=2.0.12,introduced=2.2.0,fixed=2.2.8,introduced=2.3.0,fixed=2.3.5.
Is there a fix for CVE-2026-53495?
Yes. github.com/containerd/containerd (Go): upgrade to 1.7.35 or later; github.com/containerd/containerd/v2 (Go): upgrade to 2.0.12, 2.3.5 or later. Junglewise finds every place you run it, drafts the upgrade and applies it once you approve.
How is CVE-2026-53495 attacked?
It is attacked with local access, in a hosted service.
Am I affected by CVE-2026-53495?
Check whether you run Containerd, github.com/containerd/containerd (Go) or github.com/containerd/containerd/v2 (Go) 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

  • github.com/containerd/containerd (Go): upgrade to 1.7.35 or later
    go get github.com/containerd/containerd@v1.7.35
  • github.com/containerd/containerd/v2 (Go): upgrade to 2.0.12, 2.3.5 or later
    go get github.com/containerd/containerd/v2@v2.3.5

Technical details

The vulnerability exists in containerd's CRI ExecSync implementation, which handles container execution probes (liveness, readiness checks) and lifecycle hooks. When these operations launch background child processes, the I/O drain phase lacks timeout or context cancellation handling, causing stdio-drain goroutines to block indefinitely. Repeated ExecSync calls accumulate these blocked goroutines, leaking memory and goroutine resources over time. An attacker with the ability to deploy containers or influence probe configurations can exploit this via specially crafted containers or probes. The vulnerability affects Linux systems running containerd with CRI plugin enabled; the issue does not affect Windows or non-CRI deployments. Patches are available in containerd versions 1.7.35, 2.0.12, 2.2.8, and 2.3.5.

Affected products

  • containerd containerd < 1.7.35
  • containerd containerd 2.0.x before 2.0.12
  • containerd containerd 2.2.x before 2.2.8
  • containerd containerd 2.3.x before 2.3.5

Identifiers

  • CVE-2026-53495
  • GHSA-7jxh-36q5-gcqv
  • GO-2026-6444

Timeline

  • 2026-09-09: disclosed: Vulnerability disclosed in GitHub Security Advisory GHSA-7jxh-36q5-gcqv
  • 2026-09: patched: Patches released: containerd 1.7.35, 2.0.12, 2.2.8, 2.3.5

References

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