CVE-2026-102623 Kubevirt: kubevirt: virt-controller nil-pointer dereference via malformed ephemeral volume
An authenticated user can crash the KubeVirt controller by submitting a VM with an empty ephemeral volume, causing a denial of service.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Any signed-in user
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- None listed
What is CVE-2026-102623?
CVE-2026-102623 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization 4, published on 29 Sep 2026. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Official description
A flaw was found in KubeVirt. An authenticated user with permission to create Virtual Machine Instances (VMIs) can cause a Denial of Service (DoS) by submitting a virtual machine definition with an empty ephemeral volume. The virt-controller component fails to properly validate the volume configuration, leading to an unhandled exception and application crash during processing. Because the malformed definition persists in the cluster, the controller enters a continuous crash loop, disrupting virtual machine lifecycle operations across the entire environment.
Weakness: CWE-476
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-102623?
How do I fix CVE-2026-102623?
No fix has been published for CVE-2026-102623 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.
Is CVE-2026-102623 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-102623 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as AZL-105537, GHSA-x9f5-3f6m-x9jh.