CVE-2026-50195

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.

Read the notes from the security team

Why is this CVE high priority?

Critical severity

Learn more about Ubuntu priority

Status

Show unmaintained releases

Package	Ubuntu Release	Status
containerd	26.04 LTS resolute	Not affected
	25.10 questing	Not affected
	24.04 LTS noble	Not affected
	22.04 LTS jammy	Not affected
	20.04 LTS focal	Not affected
	18.04 LTS bionic	Not affected
containerd-app	26.04 LTS resolute	Fixed 2.2.2-0ubuntu1.1
	25.10 questing	Fixed 2.2.1-0ubuntu1~25.10.2
	24.04 LTS noble	Fixed 2.2.1-0ubuntu1~24.04.3
	22.04 LTS jammy	Fixed 2.2.1-0ubuntu1~22.04.2
	20.04 LTS focal	Not affected
containerd-stable	26.04 LTS resolute	Fixed 2.2.2-0ubuntu1.1
	25.10 questing	Fixed 2.1.6-0ubuntu1~25.10.2
	24.04 LTS noble	Not in release
	22.04 LTS jammy	Not in release

Notes

alexmurray

Traditionally the containerd source package contained both the library and docker application. However, in releases that contain the containerd-app source package, the containerd source package contains only the library whilst the docker application itself is contained in the containerd-app package.

mdeslaur

containerd-app gets new upstream versions, containerd-stable gets backported security updates and minor point updates

Patch details

For informational purposes only. We recommend not to cherry-pick updates. How can I get the fixes?

Package	Patch details
containerd-app	Upstream: cff5788
containerd-stable	Upstream: 2e4583a Upstream: cff5788

Severity score breakdown

CVSS version:

Base score 5.6 · Medium

Base metrics

Parameter	Value
Attack vector	Network
Attack complexity	Low
Attack requirements	Present
Privileges required	Low
User interaction	None
Vulnerable system - Confidentiality impact	None
Vulnerable system - Integrity impact	Low
Vulnerable system - Availability impact	None
Subsequent system - Confidentiality impact	High
Subsequent system - Integrity impact	High
Subsequent system - Availability impact	Low

Scores

Parameter	Value
Base score	5.6 · Medium
Base + Threat score	-
Base + Environmental score	-
Base + Threat + Environmental score	-

Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:L/VA:N/SC:H/SI:H/SA:L

Base score 9.9 · Critical