CVE-2024-21626

high

Description

runc is a CLI tool for spawning and running containers on Linux according to the OCI specification. In runc 1.1.11 and earlier, due to an internal file descriptor leak, an attacker could cause a newly-spawned container process (from runc exec) to have a working directory in the host filesystem namespace, allowing for a container escape by giving access to the host filesystem ("attack 2"). The same attack could be used by a malicious image to allow a container process to gain access to the host filesystem through runc run ("attack 1"). Variants of attacks 1 and 2 could be also be used to overwrite semi-arbitrary host binaries, allowing for complete container escapes ("attack 3a" and "attack 3b"). runc 1.1.12 includes patches for this issue.

References

https://www.vicarius.io/vsociety/posts/leaky-vessels-part-1-cve-2024-21626

https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/2024/cve-2024-21626.json

https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/[email protected]/message/SYMO3BANINS6RGFQFKPRG4FIOJ7GWYTL/

https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/[email protected]/message/2NLXNE23Q5ESQUAI22Z7A63JX2WMPJ2J/

https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2024/02/msg00005.html

https://github.com/opencontainers/runc/security/advisories/GHSA-xr7r-f8xq-vfvv

https://github.com/opencontainers/runc/releases/tag/v1.1.12

https://github.com/opencontainers/runc/commit/02120488a4c0fc487d1ed2867e901eeed7ce8ecf

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2258725

https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2024-21626

https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:2710

https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:2701

https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:2441

https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:1711

https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:0650

https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2025:0115

https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2024:4597

https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2024:1270

https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2024:10841

https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2024:10525

https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2024:10520

https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2024:10149

https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2024:0764

https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2024:0760

https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2024:0759

https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2024:0758

https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2024:0757

https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2024:0756

https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2024:0755

https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2024:0752

https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2024:0748

https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2024:0717

https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2024:0684

https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2024:0670

https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2024:0666

https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2024:0662

https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2024:0645

http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2024/02/02/3

http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2024/02/01/1

http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/176993/runc-1.1.11-File-Descriptor-Leak-Privilege-Escalation.html

Details

Source: Mitre, NVD

Published: 2024-01-31

Updated: 2026-06-30

Named Vulnerability: Leaky Vessels

Risk Information

CVSS v2

Base Score: 7.2

Vector: CVSS2#AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

Severity: High

CVSS v3

Base Score: 8.6

Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

Severity: High

EPSS

EPSS: 0.16775

Vulnerability Watch

Tenable Research has classified this CVE under the following Vulnerability Watch classification, which includes active and historical (inactive) classifications. You can learn more about these classifications on our blog.

Vulnerability Being Monitored