CVE-2026-53488 | containerd CRI plugin: — image-config `LABEL` flows to restart-monitor `binary://` logger: host-root command execution from an image pull

containerd is an open-source container runtime. In versions prior to 1.7.33, 2.3.2, 2.2.5, 2.1.9, and 2.0.10 the CRI plugin propagates labels from an image config (LABEL instruction in Dockerfile) to a container without validation. This may result in executing an arbitrary command on the host, via a plugin that consumes container labels for some operations. This issue has been fixed in versions 1.7.33, 2.3.2, 2.2.5, 2.1.9, and 2.0.10.

Published: 2026-06-30 Last update: 2026-07-03 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Analyzed，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2026-53488 is rated Moderate Risk (42.4/100): CVSS Critical severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.23%). 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-2026-53488

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 2026-07-01 — 0.23% —

Full EPSS history (1 record total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2026-53488

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
9.4 4.0 CRITICAL
CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:H/SI:H/SA:H/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:N)
No additional preconditions are required beyond normal reachability.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No privileges are required.
User interaction (UI:N)
No user interaction is required.
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:H)
High confidentiality impact on subsequent systems.
Subsequent system integrity impact (SI:H)
High integrity impact on subsequent systems.
Subsequent system availability impact (SA:H)
High 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]
8.8 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/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: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: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.
 2.0 6.0 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2026-53488

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2026-53488

GHSA-xhf5-7wjv-pqxp · Severity: high · Ecosystem: go — containerd CRI — image-config `LABEL` flows to restart-monitor `binary://` logger: host-root command execution from an image pull

OS Trackers for CVE-2026-53488

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2026-53488 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (containerd), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): open 3, resolved 2. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2026-53488
redhat high — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-53488
suse high CVE-2026-53488 severity important: SUSE including 1 source package names (trivy-0.71.2-1.1), 1 product×package rows across 1 product lines (openSUSE Tumbleweed): Fixed 1. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-53488/
ubuntu high CVE-2026-53488 high priority: Ubuntu including 3 source packages (containerd, containerd-app, containerd-stable), 18 status rows across 7 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, questing, resolute, upstream): released 15, DNE 2, needed 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2026-53488

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2026-53488

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linuxfoundation containerd >= 1.7.0, < 1.7.33 cpe:2.3:a:linuxfoundation:containerd:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linuxfoundation containerd >= 2.0.0, < 2.0.10 cpe:2.3:a:linuxfoundation:containerd:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linuxfoundation containerd >= 2.1.0, < 2.1.9 cpe:2.3:a:linuxfoundation:containerd:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linuxfoundation containerd >= 2.2.0, < 2.2.5 cpe:2.3:a:linuxfoundation:containerd:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linuxfoundation containerd >= 2.3.0, < 2.3.2 cpe:2.3:a:linuxfoundation:containerd:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2026-53488

cvelogic Threat Intelligence