CVE-2020-2023 | Kata Containers - Containers have access to the guest root filesystem device

Kata Containers doesn't restrict containers from accessing the guest's root filesystem device. Malicious containers can exploit this to gain code execution on the guest and masquerade as the kata-agent. This issue affects Kata Containers 1.11 versions earlier than 1.11.1; Kata Containers 1.10 versions earlier than 1.10.5; and Kata Containers 1.9 and earlier versions.

Published: 2020-06-10 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2020-2023 is rated Moderate Risk (43.5/100): CVSS Low severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 1.76%). Review affected assets and schedule remediation.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2020-2023

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-04-01 2.38% 1.76% -0.62%
2 2025-11-25 1.50% 2.38% +0.87%
3 2025-11-21 — 1.50% —

Full EPSS history (19 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2020-2023

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
3.8 3.1 LOW
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:L/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:C)
Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:L)
Attackers could change some data, but it’s limited—not everything goes.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 2.0 1.4 [email protected]
6.3 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:L Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:C)
Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius.
Confidentiality (C:L)
Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump.
Integrity (I:L)
Attackers could change some data, but it’s limited—not everything goes.
Availability (A:L)
Might cause slowdowns, glitches, or partial disruption—not a full brick.
 2.0 3.7 [email protected]
4.6 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P Click to expand
Access vector (AV:L)
Requires local access to the target system.
Access complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:P)
Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:P)
Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P)
Partial availability impact.
 3.9 6.4 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2020-2023

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2020-2023

GHSA-6978-vg2j-cc9q · Severity: medium · Ecosystem: go — Improper Privilege Management and Execution with Unnecessary Privileges in Kata Containers

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2020-2023

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
katacontainers runtime <= 1.9 cpe:2.3:a:katacontainers:runtime:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
katacontainers runtime >= 1.10, < 1.10.5 cpe:2.3:a:katacontainers:runtime:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
katacontainers runtime >= 1.11, < 1.11.1 cpe:2.3:a:katacontainers:runtime:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2020-2023

cvelogic Threat Intelligence