CVE-2026-50195 containerd: CRI checkpoint import allows local image tag poisoning
Attackers can poison local image caches via crafted checkpoints, causing other pods to execute malicious code under their identity.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Any signed-in user
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2026-50195?
CVE-2026-50195 is a medium-severity vulnerability in containerd, published on 1 Jul 2026. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Official description
containerd is an open-source container runtime. Versions prior to 2.3.2, 2.2.5 and 2.1.9 contain a vulnerability in the CRI checkpoint import process where it fails to validate the image references specified within a checkpoint image's configuration. An attacker with permissions to create pods can use a crafted checkpoint image to force containerd to pull a malicious image and assign it an arbitrary local tag, thereby poisoning the node's local image cache. Subsequently, if other pods on the same node attempt to use the poisoned tag with an IfNotPresent (or Never) pull policy, they will unknowingly execute the attacker's malicious image instead of the legitimate one. This can lead to a compromise of the affected pods, allowing the attacker to execute arbitrary code under the victim pod's identity. This issue has been fixed in versions 2.3.2, 2.2.5 and 2.1.9.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-50195?
8 open source packages ship an affected version, including github.com/containerd/containerd/v2 and github.com/containerd/containerd. It affects 1 product.
| Package | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
github.com/containerd/containerd/v2 Go | From 2.1.0 | 2.1.9, 2.2.5, 2.3.2 |
github.com/containerd/containerd/v2 Go | From 2.1.0 | 2.1.9 |
github.com/containerd/containerd/v2 Go | From 2.1.0 | 2.1.9 |
github.com/containerd/containerd/v2 Go | From 2.2.0 | 2.2.5 |
github.com/containerd/containerd/v2 Go | From 2.2.0 | 2.2.5 |
github.com/containerd/containerd/v2 Go | From 2.3.0 | 2.3.2 |
2 more packages
github.com/containerd/containerd/v2 Go | From 2.3.0 | 2.3.2 |
github.com/containerd/containerd Go | All versions | None |
Products include Linuxfoundation Containerd.
How do I fix CVE-2026-50195?
Upgrade github.com/containerd/containerd/v2 to a fixed version for your release line: 2.1.9, 2.2.5 or 2.3.2.
Is CVE-2026-50195 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-50195 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in containerd
- CVE-2026-53488 containerd CRI — image-config `LABEL` flows to restart-monitor `binary://` logger: host-root command execution from an image pull
- CVE-2026-53492 containerd CRI checkpoint restore CDI annotation smuggling
- CVE-2026-53489 containerd: Arbitrary host CRI log file read via symlink following in CRI checkpoint restore
- CVE-2025-47290 Containerd vulnerable to host filesystem access during image unpack
- CVE-2026-46680 containerd user ID handling bypass allows runAsNonRoot evasion
Sources
Also known as AZL-90164, BELL-CVE-2026-50195, CLEANSTART-2026-AA50844, CLEANSTART-2026-CQ05978, CLEANSTART-2026-XK43676, DEBIAN-CVE-2026-50195 and 261 more.