CVE-2026-46680 | containerd user ID handling bypass allows runAsNonRoot evasion

containerd is an open-source container runtime. In versions prior to 1.7.32, 2.0.9, 2.2.4 and 2.3.1, containers launched with a numeric User directive that cannot be parsed as a 32-bit integer are incorrectly treated as a username, leading to runAsNonRoot evasion. If a crafted image provides an /etc/passwd file mapping this large numeric string to root, the container ultimately runs as root (UID 0). This allows the Kubernetes runAsNonRoot restriction to be bypassed, causing unexpected behavior for environments that require containers to run as a non-root user. This issue has been fixed in versions 1.7.32, 2.0.9, 2.2.4 and 2.3.1.

Published: 2026-07-01 Last update: 2026-07-03 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Analyzed，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2026-46680 is rated Low Risk (34.1/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.23%). Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

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-2026-46680

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 2026-07-02 0.02% 0.23% +0.21%
2 2026-06-12 — 0.02% —

Full EPSS history (2 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2026-46680

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.3 4.0 HIGH
CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:P/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
Attacker needs local access on the target system.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and stable.
Attack requirements (AT:P)
Additional preconditions must be present for exploitation.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No privileges are required.
User interaction (UI:P)
A user has to participate (for example click/open/approve).
Vulnerable system confidentiality impact (VC:H)
High confidentiality impact on the vulnerable system.
Vulnerable system integrity impact (VI:H)
High integrity impact on the vulnerable system.
Vulnerable system availability impact (VA:H)
High availability impact on the vulnerable system.
Subsequent system confidentiality impact (SC:N)
No confidentiality impact on subsequent systems.
Subsequent system integrity impact (SI:N)
No integrity impact on subsequent systems.
Subsequent system availability impact (SA:N)
No availability impact on subsequent systems.
Exploit maturity (threat) (E:X)
Not defined: no reliable threat intelligence; scoring assumes the worst case (equivalent to Attacked).
Confidentiality requirement (CR:X)
Not defined: insufficient information; scoring treats this like High (worst case).
Integrity requirement (IR:X)
Not defined: insufficient information; scoring treats this like High (worst case).
Availability requirement (AR:X)
Not defined: insufficient information; scoring treats this like High (worst case).
Modified attack vector (MAV:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base Attack Vector (AV).
Modified attack complexity (MAC:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base Attack Complexity (AC).
Modified attack requirements (MAT:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base Attack Requirements (AT).
Modified privileges required (MPR:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base Privileges Required (PR).
Modified user interaction (MUI:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base User Interaction (UI).
Modified vulnerable system confidentiality impact (MVC:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base VC metric.
Modified vulnerable system integrity impact (MVI:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base VI metric.
Modified vulnerable system availability impact (MVA:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base VA metric.
Modified subsequent system confidentiality impact (MSC:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base SC metric.
Modified subsequent system integrity impact (MSI:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base SI metric.
Modified subsequent system availability impact (MSA:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base SA metric.
Safety (supplemental) (S:X)
Not evaluated.
Automatable (supplemental) (AU:X)
Not evaluated.
Recovery (supplemental) (R:X)
Not evaluated.
Value density (supplemental) (V:X)
Not evaluated.
Vulnerability response effort (supplemental) (RE:X)
Not evaluated.
Provider urgency (supplemental) (U:X)
Not evaluated.
 — — [email protected]
7.8 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H 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:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 1.8 5.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2026-46680

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2026-46680

GHSA-fqw6-gf59-qr4w · Severity: high · Ecosystem: go — containerd user ID handling bypass allows runAsNonRoot evasion

OS Trackers for CVE-2026-46680

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2026-46680 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (containerd), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): open 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2026-46680
redhat high — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-46680
suse high — https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-46680/
ubuntu medium CVE-2026-46680 medium priority: Ubuntu including 3 source packages (containerd, containerd-app, containerd-stable), 18 status rows across 7 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, questing, resolute, upstream): needed 13, needs-triage 3, DNE 2. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2026-46680

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2026-46680

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linuxfoundation containerd >= 1.7.27, < 1.7.32 cpe:2.3:a:linuxfoundation:containerd:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linuxfoundation containerd >= 2.0.4, < 2.0.9 cpe:2.3:a:linuxfoundation:containerd:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linuxfoundation containerd >= 2.1.0, < 2.2.4 cpe:2.3:a:linuxfoundation:containerd:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linuxfoundation containerd >= 2.3.0, < 2.3.1 cpe:2.3:a:linuxfoundation:containerd:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2026-46680

cvelogic Threat Intelligence