Kata Containers is an open source implementation of lightweight Virtual Machines (VMs) that perform like containers. In versions prior to 4.0.0, the kata-agent is vulnerable to an authorization bypass in confidential-guest memory management. In Confidential Containers (CoCo) deployments, the kata-agent enforces an OPA/Rego-based AgentPolicy that must authorize every ttRPC API call, forming the security boundary that prevents an untrusted host from directing the confidential guest. Two ttRPC methods introduced with the mem-agent feature are missing this authorization check, so an untrusted host can invoke them unconditionally regardless of the guest's policy configuration. When mem-agent is enabled (off by default), this lets the host tamper with in-guest memory management by forcing swap, aggressive eviction, or compaction, resulting in attacker-controlled availability and performance degradation of the confidential workload entirely outside the agent-policy boundary. The impact does not include memory disclosure or code execution, and severity is bounded by the precondition that mem-agent must be explicitly enabled. This issue is fixed in version 4.0.0.

No CVSS v4.0

Attack Vector Local

Attack Complexity Low

Privileges Required None

Scope Changed

Confidentiality Impact None

Integrity Impact Low

Availability Impact Low

User Interaction None

No CVSS v3.0

No CVSS v2

This CVE is not in the KEV list.

No EPSS score available.

Key SSVC decision points have not yet been added.

Default status is the baseline for the product, each version can override it (e.g. patched versions marked unaffected).

Vendor Product Default status Versions
kata-containers kata-containers affected
Version Status Constraints
< 4.0.0 affected —

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Fixes

Solution

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Workaround

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References
Link Providers
https://github.com/kata-containers/kata-containers/security/advisories/GHSA-h8jv-63p2-496x cve-icon
History

Fri, 07 Aug 2026 22:00:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description Kata Containers is an open source implementation of lightweight Virtual Machines (VMs) that perform like containers. In versions prior to 4.0.0, the kata-agent is vulnerable to an authorization bypass in confidential-guest memory management. In Confidential Containers (CoCo) deployments, the kata-agent enforces an OPA/Rego-based AgentPolicy that must authorize every ttRPC API call, forming the security boundary that prevents an untrusted host from directing the confidential guest. Two ttRPC methods introduced with the mem-agent feature are missing this authorization check, so an untrusted host can invoke them unconditionally regardless of the guest's policy configuration. When mem-agent is enabled (off by default), this lets the host tamper with in-guest memory management by forcing swap, aggressive eviction, or compaction, resulting in attacker-controlled availability and performance degradation of the confidential workload entirely outside the agent-policy boundary. The impact does not include memory disclosure or code execution, and severity is bounded by the precondition that mem-agent must be explicitly enabled. This issue is fixed in version 4.0.0.
Title Kata Containers: Unauthorized mem-agent ttRPC methods let an untrusted host tamper with confidential-guest memory
Weaknesses CWE-862
References
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 5.7, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:L/A:L'}

Projects

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cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: GitHub_M

Published:

Updated: 2026-08-07T21:47:20.584Z

Reserved: 2026-07-20T17:12:12.891Z

Link: CVE-2026-64676

cve-icon Vulnrichment

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cve-icon NVD

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cve-icon Redhat

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cve-icon OpenCVE Enrichment

Updated: 2026-08-07T23:30:17Z

Weaknesses