CVE-2026-13322 — Kubevirt: virt-handler-rhel9: kubevirt: unbounded virtio-serial readline in virt-handler causes oom denial of service
A flaw was found in KubeVirt's downward metrics virtio-serial server. The server reads guest requests using textproto.Reader.ReadLine(), which buffers input indefinitely until a newline character is received, with no length limit or read deadline. A user with access to a VM guest that has the downward metrics virtio-serial device configured can write a continuous byte stream to the device, causing unbounded memory allocation in the virt-handler process until it is OOM-killed.
Who exploits it and how urgent it is
A 0–100 score combining confirmed exploitation, ransomware and APT use, public exploits, EPSS and severity.
How the score was calculated
- EPSS 0.1% (30-day exploitation probability)+0
The score orders the patch queue; it does not replace your asset context (internet exposure, criticality, compensating controls).
Triage
Is it exploited, how likely is exploitation, what does it touch, and how severe do the sources call it.
CISA SSVC assessment CISA
Three decision points CISA publishes for the CVEs it assesses (SSVC 2.0.3). A stakeholder decision, not a severity score.
Remediation
Fixes and mitigations documented by the sources — linked to the original advisory.
- Documented mitigation — access.redhat.com (NIST National Vulnerability Database)
First 24 hours
Ordered from the record’s own fields — exposure first, because you cannot patch what you have not found. A rule-generated starting point.
- Identify exposed assets running the affected vendor/product/version combinations (Kubevirt Kubevirt, Red Hat Openshift Virtualization, Red Hat Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization 4).
- Apply the documented mitigations until a definitive fix is available.
- Search available logs for exploit probes matching the vulnerability class (denial of service), errors and authentication anomalies.
Affected scope
Vendor, product and versions as the sources word them.
| Vendor | Product | Versions | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kubevirt | Kubevirt | versions not specified by the source | Vulnerable | NIST National Vulnerability Database |
| Red Hat | Openshift Virtualization | ≥ 4 and ≤ 4.22.0 | Vulnerable | NIST National Vulnerability Database |
| Red Hat | Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization 4 | versions not specified by the source | Vulnerable | CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP |
Attack characteristics
The CVSS vector, decoded. It describes the attack, not your exposure to it.
Every base score collected
Sources score independently and may disagree; each row says who scored it and under which version.
| Score | Version | Severity | Expl. | Impact | Scored by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.8 | CVSS 3.1 | Low | 2.0 | 1.4 | secalert@redhat.com via NIST National Vulnerability Database |
| 3.8 | CVSS 3.1 | Low | — | — | redhat via CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP |
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:L (score shown at the top: secalert@redhat.com) Weakness MITRE
Weakness class according to MITRE’s CWE catalog.
CWE-770 · Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling
EPSS over time FIRST
Oct 13, 2026 → Oct 16, 2026 · 4 reading(s) · max 0.13%
Detection
Read off the CVSS vector and the weakness class. Starting points, not tested rules.
- Local/physical vector: focus on endpoint telemetry (EDR) from affected hosts.
- Track CPU/memory spikes and availability drops correlated with request patterns.
Timeline
What happened to this CVE, newest first.
- 2026
- Affected products added · red hat/red hat openshift virtualization 4
- SSVC assessment updated
- Record published
- Fix documented
- CVSS changed · 3.8
- Source status changed · → Analyzed
- Record created in this database
- CVE published
Source activity
Repeated readings are counted rather than listed.
- 1× Official description updated · Oct 13, 2026 – Oct 13, 2026
References
2 on the record
Elsewhere on this site
Related CVEs (same products)
- Medium CVE-2026-102623 Kubevirt: kubevirt: virt-controller nil-pointer dereference via malformed ephemeral volume 17d
- Medium CVE-2026-79699 Podman: buildah: skopeo: containers/storage: malicious tar whiteout header allows replacement of extraction destination directory Sep 15, 2026
- Medium CVE-2026-79705 Podman: buildah: buildah/copier: directory escape via crafted tar symlinks when used outside buildah by non-root callers Sep 15, 2026
- High CVE-2026-17527 Virt-cdi-operator: containerized-data-importer: cdi.kubevirt.io:view aggregated clusterrole grants create on datavolumes/source, allowing unauthorized pvc clone Jul 27, 2026
- Medium CVE-2026-13434 Virt-controller-rhel9: kubevirt: kubevirt: multus default-network annotation injection via unvalidated tenant networkname when externalnetresourceinjection is enabled Jun 26, 2026
- Medium CVE-2026-13318 Virt-api-rhel9: kubevirt: kubevirt: ssrf in virt-api port-forward via unvalidated guest-agent-reported ip Jun 25, 2026
Not in any source we poll
Listed rather than left blank: an empty field and an unmeasured one look identical on screen, and only one is a reason to look elsewhere.
- No confirmed IOCs, IP addresses, domains, file hashes, or malware artifacts supplied.
- No organization-specific asset inventory, compensating-control status, or patch deployment evidence supplied.
- No exploit packet captures, log samples, or incident case IDs supplied.
Answered from this record
Text assembled only from the fields above — no additional claims.
What should defenders know first?
CVE-2026-13322 is "Kubevirt: virt-handler-rhel9: kubevirt: unbounded virtio-serial readline in virt-handler causes oom denial of service", rated Low. It affects Kubevirt (Kubevirt); versions are in the scope table. It is not in CISA KEV, which does not rule out exploitation. CVSS 3.8 describes technical severity. EPSS 0.13% estimates the probability of exploitation in 30 days; neither replaces your asset context. First verify whether exposed or business-critical assets run the affected versions, apply vendor fixes or mitigations, and preserve logs for review.
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